Lemons & Cherries
by SniperGirl0907
Summary: Movieverse AU: Four new femmes arrive on earth, and Darren's family is at breaking point as his cousins are constantly at each others throats. Can the new arrivals find their place in the Autobots ranks? & will Darren be able to help his family resolve their issues? Chapter 3 of the Tomorrow Is Forever Coming saga: OC centric.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

* * *

LEMONS & CHERRIES

Prologue

England, Falmouth: 9:13pm:

"'Tis quiet out there on th' wat'er tonight" the old sailor said offhand as he took a big swig of his cider.

"Aye, right unusual; usually see a lot more visitors than this" the captain replied as he looked out of the window.

The night was warm and still. Not a breeze was stirring as the sun slowly dipped below the tops of the houses and the evening star twinkled over Gyllyngvase bay: the town slowly and quietly turned in for the night as the revelers and holiday makers were steadily making their way back to their B&B's and hotels; sun-kissed skin and pruned fingers had given way to heavy eyes and tired feet. And little by little every family was bedding down while the older, more mature tourists were soaking up the quiet ambiance of the evening in the various restaurants and cafes that lined the water's edge.

Falmouth was a town of character, a gem among working harbors; with its thriving docks and marinas packed with sea-going visitors from up and down the country, tonight was unusually quiet. Most peculiar: but a welcome change for the town's residents as they too enjoyed the summer's warmth in the local pubs and inns that were tucked away in the coziest corners of the harbor.

One such pub: The Chain Locker, situated in the corner of the tiny Custom House Quay, was every Cornish sailor's most coveted watering hole for miles around; every sailor, mariner, diver, and fisherman who worked the waters of the Fal estuary and its surrounding coast, called this place home away from home, as well as every local who favored the company of his neighbors and fellow Cornishmen.

And tonight was as lively as ever: while the fisherman chatted, laughed and compared stories of who landed the biggest catch, the Gig racing team were busy celebrating their latest victory over their rivals from Fowey; the ladies from the Arts guild were whispering their latest gossip in the corner, and by the bar a big stout fellow was trying shift his Irish wolfhound that had fallen asleep in front of the entrance to the kitchen.

All in all, a pleasantly regular evening for everyone.

...Except one.

At the far end of the pub, sitting in the small alcove next to the big window that overlooked the Quay, away from the hubbub and noise: the captain sighed as he took another sip of his drink, and watched the flat glass-like sea as a cormorant swam along through the water, bobbing up and down in between the boats.

He was old; as old as some of the old codgers who frequented this place, and tonight was one of the few times he felt his age catching up to him. Straightening out his legs for a more comfortable position, he felt the ache in his right knee ('must see the doctor about that, he reminded himself) and the stiffness in his lower back. The long years of working through rough weather and bitter cold were starting to show their toil on his frame: and it made him sigh with exhaustion.

"Guess it'll soon be time to pack it all in I guess?" he said to himself as he downed the last of his drink.

"...You did always say you wanted to give carpentry a try" a voice replied

Nearly jumping out of his skin, the captain turned around, and saw standing behind him a man much older than himself. Recognizing who it was, he stared at the stranger in a mix of surprise and bewilderment, not quite believing it was him.

"...Good God..." the captain breathed in astonishment, "...It's you..."

"...May I please join you?" the stranger asked, and without hesitation the captain pulled up a seat for him. The strange man was not like anyone else in the pub, or from around here for that matter; he was somewhat of a hermit or a homeless beggar. Dressed in the scruffiest dirtiest clothing: he wore old jeans with sandals that were practically falling apart off his feet, a baggy tie-dye T-shirt that was four sizes too big for him, and with enough holes to outdo a block a Swiss cheese; over that he wore a long red woolen poncho, and a grey tatty fleece cape that was draped over and around his shoulders like a shawl. Slung over one arm he had a big back-pack which was barely holding itself together, and no doubt filled with his only possessions, while in the other hand he carried a tall walking stick made of Ash, and was topped with a small jewel set into the wood. One glance at it and one could easily mistake him for a wizard of some kind.

The rest of him was just as bedraggled underneath his garments: he was tall with a thin frame, but lean enough to suggest he was in good health. His tanned skin was etched with wrinkles and calluses on his palms (the sign of a hard worker): his face reflected the long years of his life, with worn tired eyes, pronounced cheek bones and long unkempt white hair and a beard. He certainly looked like he was over the hill.

Except for his eyes; of all the features that spoke volumes about his person and lifestyle, his eyes stood out from everything about him, for they were the most radiant shade of blue anyone had ever seen: in a way they looked almost unnatural, as if they were almost glowing. As he gazed down at the captain, they seemed to shimmer with the fading twilight, and the silvery light of the full moon as it arched high over the sea.

For a long moment neither of them spoke: as the captain studied his face, trying to convince himself he wasn't dreaming or imagining things, and likewise the stranger simply sat there with an understanding smile; waiting until his friend was ready to speak.

"...It's been a long time" the captain finally said

"Yes. It has" the old man nodded

"...Where've you been all this time?" the captain asked nervously

"Here, there and everywhere" he shrugged, "Where the wind and the tides take me I suppose?"

"And they finally bring you back to these shores" the captain smiled

"Indeed: but this time, not without purpose"

"Got something important to do?"

The old man hesitated a little, before looking the captain straight in the eye and replying: "...Yes, and I need your help"

"Oh?"

"Does your brother still fly charter flights?"

"Of course: why? You need to go somewhere in a hurry?"

"I need safe passage to America. I have to get to California within the next seventy two hours" the old man stated

The captain blinked in surprise, and then dropped his gaze with a look of concentration, as if considering if it was feasible or not.

"...Any other time I would travel by the usual means, but I wouldn't ask unless it was absolutely necessary..."

"...How serious is it?"

"Dire. Or at least it will be. Lives are going to be at stake, and if I don't get there in time I fear the consequences with have repercussions that will stretch far beyond just me; and _them ._..."

Hearing that last word, the Captain stilled, and looked up at the old man with a sense of mild alarm.

"...Them? ..." he breathed softly, "You mean- ... Is it, _nearly time?_"

The old man regarded his friend with an unreadable look, and then slowly nodded with a look of wiry exhaustion in his eyes: "...Yes, it is nearly time" he softly replied, "...All I spoke of before, will soon become real: and I have so much left to do before my time finally comes. If I'm going to do _one thing_ absolutely right, it will be this..."

A long moment of silence stretched between them as the captain contemplated his friend's request, before he sighed and nodded in agreement.

"...Give me ten minutes, I'll go and give him a call: see if he's got any jets to spare..." the captain replied as he stood up and headed for the pay-phone at the end of the bar.

Moving closer to the window, the old man pulled back part of his poncho, and gazed down at the strange cybertronian tattoo's that covered both his arms. Suddenly, some of the patterns began to glow in a soft blueish aura; he quickly rubbed his hands up and down his forearms, and the glowing subsided until it was gone.

Pulling the poncho back over his arms, he gazed over at the harbor and sea beyond the Estuary's mouth; as he let his mind drift, thoughts of the future and how it will play out began to swim around his mind...

Elsewhere, in a place far beyond this plane of mortal existence, beyond time and space, and the ebb and flow of the universe itself; Alpha Trion watched the old man in the orb of his staff, and stroked his 'beard' as he pondered on this strange human.

* * *

**Hey! New Story Time!**

**And this one starts of with yet another cryptic scene; the setting for this particular section of the saga is kinda personal for me, as Falmouth is my favorite town to go and visit whenever I have the chance; hence I was able to put a lot of substance and depth into the scenery description with very little difficulty. It's also going to be featured in a future story so keep an eye out. :) Curious? check out Falmouth online, or better yet, on Google Earth if you've got it. It's very pretty :)**

**A/N: This story kinda takes a break from the bots and focuses more on Darren and his cousins, and the new femmes that will be joining the gang; the bots and other humans will be getting a look-in, but they'll be mostly secondary characters for this particular story: just letting you know in advance so you don't think I've neglected them ;). Hopefully the story won't run too far away from the original draft, but there might be one or two additional edits made here and there for the sake of making sense and keeping it all real. **

**It must be noted: there is a serial killer staring in this story so there will be a bit of blood and guts, and it will get a tad gory with scenes of torture in later chapters; I will post warnings nearer the time, and this story is rated M for good measure. So if you've got a bit of a delicate stomach, feel free to skip those chapters :)**

**Other than that, what follows will be a whole load of silliness, family squabbling & fluffiness, and teenage attitude coming out the wazoo XDDDD : you have been warned, continue at your own risk!**


	2. Chpt 1: Last Night of Summer

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

**: GRAPHIC WARNING : it gets a tad violent & bloody, with a leg that's blown off at the end of this chapter; queasy stomach? feel free to skip :)**

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LEMONS & CHERRIES

Chapter 1: Last Night of Summer

Area 52, aka NEST Base HQ: Evening:

"Of all the nights to pull off the paint-whammy prank, _you had to choose tonight?!_" Sunstreaker exclaimed angrily

"Hey I said I'm sorry!" Sideswipe protested, trying to calm his brother down

"'Sorry' doesn't get my paint-job redone!" the yellow warrior growled threateningly as he looked at the state of his flaking paint.

"What're you whining for anyway? Moonshine'll fix it up-"

CLANK!

"-OW! Geez! What was that for?!" the red warrior protested as he rubbed the back of his helm

"_You know what..._" his brother glared at him dangerously

"You know? You really need to improve on your social skills!"

"My social skills are fine; it's my tolerance towards idiots that needs improving!" Sunstreaker shot back

Sideswipe mumbled something under his breath before changing the subject: "Speaking of improvements, did you check out the new gear Moonshines issued the humans? Pretty swag huh?" he grinned

"I wouldn't know, I was too busy trying to dodge Skids"

"I thought Prowl caught him already?"

"No that was Mudflap, Prime nabbed Skids before he had a chance to bolt"

"Huh... Speaking of which, where did the boss bot get to? He didn't come back after he took him down to the brig"

"He's gone for a few rounds with Majestrix..." Sunstreaker pointed to one of the tall sloping ridges that overlooked the airstrip; sure enough, glistening in the last of the evening sun, two figures were moving about in sync to one another while the clanging and ringing of weapons echoed out across the desert, as Optimus and Majestrix spared.

Majestrix moved with fluidity and grace, like water running downstream; as Elita watched from her perch on a nearby bolder, she sent waves of encouragement through her spark-bond down to Optimus as he tried to keep pace with his sister. The two siblings had been sparing like this for a while now, and as Prime moved to strike and counter strike, Majestrix was able to get the upper hand every time. Frowning in concern, she knew Optimus wasn't this blunt...unless...

"So? Are you going to tell me?" she asked

"What?" Optimus asked

"What vexes you? You're unfocused: at this rate I could take your head off and it would take you awhile before you realized you were dead" she smirked

Slowing down to a stop, Prime heaved through his vents as he sheathed his arm-mounted energy sword; Majestrix sheathed her own wrist-mounted blades and the two siblings practiced some simple strike-and-block techniques instead, while Prime (somewhat) reluctantly continued: "It's Galloway"

Majestrix frowned with a sharp sigh, she knew what in particular he was referring to: "This morning's the third time in as many weeks he's demanded an update on the search"

"It's been nearly a month since Barricade attempted to abduct Morri, and _not once_ have we found anything that might lead us to his base of operations. Hunting Decepticons is no qualm for us. But with Galloway demanding that we step up our efforts when we're already working as hard as we can, the director's patience with us is beginning to boarder on unreasonable" Prime huffed as he deflected a punch.

"This is _exactly _why bureaucrats should never be directly involved in military affairs" Majestrix replied as she blocked Primes fist's and threw a punch of her own, Prime dodged her and moved back as step. ", My tolerance for his condescending opinion of us is one thing; but to not take into account the logistics of this operation, without an appreciation for what we might be facing? _That, I cannot stand!_" she growled as she moved in for another attack, this time taking Optimus completely by surprise and landing him flat on his aft, she waited for him to get back up on his feet before resuming.

"What I don't understand is why he's acting the way he is? The report we gave him the day after Barricade's attempted kidnapping? He was much calmer than I anticipated, but over this last month he's been breathing down our neck plates without rest. I can understand the threat the Decepticons would pose to the human's political stability if our existence were to be uncovered by accident, but overall, we've been searching for Barricade since the battle of Mission City two years ago, what makes this resurgence different? Why the pressure to capture him now?" Elita reasoned

"I asked Moshower about that. Apparently the results of the American Vice Presidential elections will be revealed in week's time and the country will soon reach the climax of its political fervor; any skirmishes that happen will be most inconvenient, and difficult to handle for the human president" Optimus replied

"Well? We can't have that now, can we?" Majestrix grinned with a sly twinkle in her crimson red optics.

"You lie, but thank you for not being stubborn about it; both Galloway and the Pentagon are keen to keep the operation as discreet as possible while the voting takes place"

"You know what that means" Majestrix smiled

"Kerb-side duty" Optimus nodded; "Not the most practical means of hunting a Decepticon like Barricade; but still, hiding in plain sight _is_ what we do best. And at least it allows the humans a chance to catch some much needed respite"

"It was nice of you to allow them to have a 'Barbeque'; the rest of the bots have been enjoying themselves too" Elita smiled as she activated the binocular zoom in her optics and focused on the small party out behind one of the hangers; all the bots were seated on boulders and rocks with their energon cubes in hand while the humans mingled and ate their food.

"Content troops are productive troops: and one break won't waste _that _much time, not at the rate this operation is going..." Majestrix reasoned "Speaking of productive troops, there is one thing that has been concerning me of late" she added

"You mean Darren? Yes I noticed" Prime sighed

"His last three reports were overdue, his work standard hasn't been what it usually is, and he's been 'distracted' by something". Has Trailbreaker mentioned anything?" Elita asked in mild concern

"Nothing that is of concern to us or the operation: I've told Trailbreaker to keep an Optic on him, and I informed Major Lennox" Prime stated

"He'll be fine, after what he went through in that other universe, I'd be hard pressed to believe he's lacking due to something trivial. Give him time, he'll pick up again or he'll come around, either, I'm sure it won't last" Majestrix smiled as she saw an opportunity and caught Prime off guard with a swift right hook, the bot crashed to his knees and shook his head, trying to push the dizziness away: "Right, that makes three out of three; you're getting the energon" she smiled as she offered her hand and helped him back up.

* * *

26 miles north east of Tranquility: Later that evening

"Augh, I'm bushed!" Will yawned as he stretched his arms out and slumped down into Ironhide's driver's seat.

"After that stunt the twins pulled I'm not surprised" Ironhide replied through his car radio.

"Still, it was a great evening" Chromia added as she stayed close behind him.

"Yeah, I love barbeques..." Annabelle yawned as she dozed off in her mother's lap.

The sun had finally dipped below the horizon, and all around the last of the twilight was alive with the chirping of crickets and the wailing howls of coyotes. The drive back home was quite, not another car had been seen since they left the highway that ran parallel to Tranquility: it made for a pleasant drive as they passed farmland and desert scrub, until finally the Lennox's farm was in sight.

For a farm it wasn't very big; just a house with two big yards both out the front and back, a few fields that had been left to grow wild, an apple orchard, a herb and veggie patch, and a big barn behind the garages on the west side of the property. It wasn't anything grand nor was it a working farm, but it was nice and big enough to raise a family, as well as keep two giant robotic aliens well hidden.

"Well, here we are, home at last," Will smiled as they pulled onto the little dirt road that lead up to the front drive, "And time for bed"

"I have to agree, I too am most looking forward to some much needed recharge" Ironhide concurred as he pulled up in front of the house.

"Yeah, it's been a long-..." Sarah suddenly froze as she gazed over at the house.

"Honey?" Will asked in concern

"Will-" She pointed the front door. It was wide open.

"Crap" the Major gasped, "-Ironhide-"

"-Already on it..." the weapons expert replied as he activated his scanners and swept the whole house top to bottom; Chromia followed suit as she slowly and quietly crept all the way around the house, all the while keeping her weapons systems cycling, in case of trouble. Finally she pulled up next to Ironhide and came to rest on her tires.

"... No live bio-signatures and no energon trail's either: the whole place is empty" the mech replied

"You're sure?" Sarah asked in concern

"Positive" Chromia replied, "But there are traces of human bio-residue, whoever was here left several hours ago" she added

Steadily getting out of Ironhide, Will cautiously approached the house. Although he knew no one was home and he trusted his guardian's word on it, his instinctive flight of fight reflex still kicked in none the less, while Sarah and Annabelle watched anxiously as he disappeared behind the front door. Several minutes passed before a string of muffed angry curses drifted out from within the house.

Alarmed, Sarah hopped out of the Topkick, "-Stay with Ironhide sweetie-" she hastily told her daughter, and rushed into the house to see what was wrong. Another few minutes passed before Annabelle heard her mother sobbing, and her father continuing to curse.

"What's wrong Ironhide? Mommy and daddy sound upset" Annabelle asked

"I don't know youngling, climb on out so I can transform and get a better look," Ironhide replied as he popped his door open. Once Annabelle had climbed out and jumped down to the ground, the weapons specialist and his sparkmate both transformed into their bipedal modes and steadily approached the house with the little honey-blond at their feet. Getting down on all fours to get a better look through the front windows: the sight of the house's interior made them blink in surprise...

It was a mess: ornaments had been broken, furniture moved and tossed about, and the TV, computer, laptops, stereo systems and other electrical items were all gone; while the lock on the front door had been forced open, probably with a crowbar.

Annabelle gawked as she walked in and looked around, "...HOLY CRAP WE'VE BEEN BURGLED!"

At that moment Sarah came running down the stairs with her great-grandmother's jewellery caddy cradled in her arms, "Oh God Will! They even took my Grandmother's emerald broach!-" she cried as she wiped the tears from her face.

"Primus!-" Chromia exclaimed, "Who would do this?"

Too riled up to even reply, Will stormed out of the house and paced around the front yard, trying desperately to clear his thoughts and bring his temper back under control. Strangers had been in his house, robbed him and his family of their personal belongings, without thought or consideration as to how it would hurt them; it angered him to no end: and soon he was so lost in his temper that he nearly jumped out of his skin when Ironhide gently clasped a hand around him.

"Do you want me to track them down?" the weapons specialist asked. Taking a deep breath, Will pushed his anger aside and mentally ran through his list of options, and soon decided on what to do. "No..." he shook his head, "We'll do this the old fashioned way". He strode back into the house, picked up the phone, and dialed 911. "Sarah, Anny, go wait outside and don't touch anything" he ordered, and both females complied without argument.

: 911 what's your emergency? : The operator on the other end of the line asked; "Yeah, I wanna report a burglary..."

As Will relayed the details of the crime, Sarah gazed up at both guardians with a knowing look. Ironhide and Chromia both nodded in understanding, and instantly transformed back into their alt-modes and backed up next to the garages.

"Anny: sweetie? Do you remember the first rule of what we do when guests are at the house?"

"Don't go talking about Ironhide and Auntie Chromia: don't worry mommy I got this covered" Anny smiled up at her mum.

"Good girl" Sarah smiled, "Now, the police are gonna want to ask questions; just tell them what you saw inside the house, okay?"

"Okay. And don't worry mommy, it'll be okay..."

* * *

At the same time, in the suburbs of Tranquility:

The city of Tranquility was unusually quiet; the downtown area was bustling as usual with the regular clubbers and party goers, but the red light district was all but dead, hardly anyone was on the streets tonight. Most peculiar, but no one was complaining as Bumblebee, Jazz, Bluestreak and Trailbreaker drove their charges home; with their comms open through their car radios, the guardians and their charges were all a buzz with Moonshine's latest 'little gifts' to the kids.

"Man! I can't believe this! And it isn't even my birthday!" Darren grinned wildly as he inspected the device on his wrist.

**: I thought it would cheer you up! :** Moonshine beamed through the holo-projector being emitted out of Trailbreaker's dashboard.

"Dude you even painted them in our favorite colors! This is so totally awesome!" Miles beamed as he tried his device on for size.

"Their pretty cool, what did you say they were again?" Mikaela asked as she ran her fingers over the same device on her wrist.

**: Oh! It's my go-anywhere-do-anything-at-anytime gadget gauntlet! But Compact Terminal Gauntlet or CTG for short's a bit of an easier mouthful! :** The dragon femme chuckled sweetly. **: It's basically the standard cybertronian equivalent of a Swiss army knife; a miniature super computer with added micro equipment for whatever's required of any situation. It comes fully equipped with full-spectral scanners, inbuilt Wi-Fi for optimal internet access anywhere on the planet as well as access to Teletran's main network, automated uplink cables with electro-nanites for full one-on-one connection to any device, one hundred terabytes of memory for maximum data storage, a fully functional holo-projected laptop monitor and keyboard with touch-sensitive capabilities and additional holo-projectors, an encrypted comm system for multiple-frequency communications, an emergency signal emitter for in case your lost or kidnapped, a self-defense system that includes an EMP pulse emitter a ten second energy shield and a magnetic sleeper virus, a miniature tool kit which can detach from the main device. Plus a setting's control so you can personalize your desktop settings...oh! And the skin-side is lined with bio-signature readers, so the CTG's are DNA key-coded. They won't allow you or anyone else to access them unless they have your DNA, heart rate, breathing pattern, blood pressure and brainwave rhythms all in sync! : **

"Whoa..." Becky and Becca both breathed in astonishment as they looked down at their CTG's. The devices were sleek, stylish, and simple in appearance: and indeed painted to match the kid's favorite colors. They were a metallic armor-like glove that covered the entire length of the forearm from the elbow to the base of the fingers, with a series of interconnecting components and platelets that hugged the form of limb: making it look like a combat gauntlet, but at the same time it comfortably allowed the arm and its joints to move about without restriction. On the top of each device were two small oblong oval shapes that formed the base of the holoform projectors, while on the inner side of the wrist was a small button that released the gauntlet from the arm.

"So in other words they have to actually be _on_ you for them to work. Sweet security set-up" Darren smiled

**: Mm-hm, oh and the proverbial icing on the cake is, they have a Decepticon ID scanner installed, so if their picked up by a cybertronian and they detect it's a con that's holding them, they detonate on contact:** Moonshine replied in a bubbly happy tone. The kids snapped their heads up in surprise.

"That's cool" Sam smiled

**: Indeed! I call it covering **_**all **_**the bases; besides, if they get destroyed it's no biggy! Since their linked up to Teletran twenty four seven I can just build a new one and download all you're saved settings, plus any data that was coming in up to the moment of detonation. Don't worry I got everything covered! : **She beamed.

"What the heck inspired you to come up with this?" Hailey asked as she looked over her bright pink CTG.

**: Well, with the search for Barricade dragging on I've been bored out of my processor; between Sunstreaker's weekly paint-job touch-ups and designing and building uncle Optimus's new combat trailers, I've had **_**absolutely **_**nothing to do! Then, the other week I suddenly remembered Morri's little encounter with the con, and then realized making sure you little sweetie-sparks were well protected and armed was the best priority! : **Moonshine explained in a rather over-dramatic fashion.

"Okay" Mikaela raised an eyebrow, "But what did Galloway say about it?"

"**Oh, about him; when I proposed the idea of the CTG's to Colonel Bishop, he suggested I be 'selective' about how they're designed. Since the Alien /Autobot Cooperation Act forbids us from us from sharing our weapons technology with the human military forces, I figured if these devices are simply 'augmented laptops', **_**technically **_**they wouldn't come under the heading of weapons tech and we'd still be within the parameters of the agreement. Not too bad eh? : **She stated rather proudly

"I guess?" Hailey contemplated her logic.

"Hey as long as they don't have a big-ass cannon mounted on top we're good," Miles reasoned, "And besides, think of all the fun we could have with these babies!"

"Too right bro! Too right!" Glen beamed with excitement as he tried his maroon red CTG on for size.

"Hey, where's the instruction manual?" Becca asked as she rummaged through the box hers came in.

**: Oh, these are a strictly 'first-hand intro' thing sweetie. There're some settings and functions installed on them I needed to teach you about first hand; that, and there're some other additional gadgets that I meant to give you tonight, but didn't get to finish up in time. Come on by the studio tomorrow and I'll give you the full low-down okay? : **Moonshine replied

"Thanks 'shine" Sam smiled

**: Oh stop it- :** the dragon femme waved off with a blush. **: Seeing a smile on those squishy little cheeks of yours is all the satisfaction I require. Nighty-night sweet-sparks! :** She chimed before her hologram image cut out and her comm went offline.

"Jeez, where the hell did she find the time to come up with something like this?, and to make one for each of us too!" Hailey thought aloud as she looked her CTG over.

"Dunno, but you gotta admit, once she gets an idea she totally rolls with it" Bluestreak replied with a smirk

"Not to mention she treats weapons as if their fashion accessories" Bumblebee drolled: Sam smirked, as he could practically hear the bot rolling his optics.

"Well I think she's a total sweetie" Becca smiled, "Yeah, she even _gift-wrapped _them for us" Becky gestured to the boxes sitting on Bluestreak's back seat, the ones that had been wrapped in decorative wrapping paper and tied up with silk ribbons.

"How many weapon's designers do that?" Jazz chuckled

"The ones who missed their calling as frame designers" Trailbreaker chuckled

"She _is _a frame designer: she's just not had the opportunity to deck anyone out in some new threads is all" Miles shrugged, "Or, I guess plates in your case" he corrected

"Well, it's been fun guys, but our turn-offs coming up" Trailbreaker sighed as he indicated to go right, and turn off the main street.

"See you guys tomorrow, and say hi to your folks for me" Darren added

"Will-do, 'night dude", "'night", "See ya in the morning", "Sweet dreams" everyone else replied as their end of the comms went offline, until finally Darren and Trailbreaker were alone as they headed towards home.

"Oh-" Darren suddenly remembered as he grabbed his back-pack, and rummaged through the contents until he pulled out a small laptop, "I managed to fix the bugs on Uncle Will's notebook, I promised I'd have it done by today"

"Quick detour? No problem..." Trailbreaker replied, and missed the turning for home; driving several more blocks along, and turned right into a more secluded leafy neighborhood. Through the sensors in his driver's seat, Trailbreaker could feel Darren's tension level spiking a little; he was never keen on going to his cousin's house, and as of late had been no acceptation.

"...You know? It's gonna be okay" the bot said offhand, trying to ease the anxiety, "That whole thing involving the letter: it'll blow over in time"

Darren knew he was just trying to offer some comfort, and sighed as he propped his elbow on the door and gazed out the window: "That's being generous" he thought aloud as his destination rolled into view.

Trailbreaker pulled up onto the driveway and cut his engine. The house was huge, not a mansion, but quite big with a sizable front yard and double garages, with kids toys laying abandoned on the lawn. As he got out, Darren grabbed the notebook and quietly made his way around the side of the house to the kitchen door: he didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention. As he approached the kitchen window, he stopped and listened, no one seemed to be in but he could hear something going on inside: passing a deep reluctant sigh, he stepped up to the door, knocked twice, and let himself in.

Right away, he noticed the broken dinner plate with its contents lying on the floor, a few meters away from that the glass flower vase that usually sat on the windowsill was broken on the floor too. Looking around, he saw no one, until a familiar face popped her head up from behind the island that stood in the middle of the kitchen.

She was a little taller than Darren, dressed in shaggy torn jeans and a tie-dye T-shirt, she had short light and dark blue hair with bright pink highlights, and huge bangs coming down the side of her face, with some elaborate silver hoop earrings hanging off her ears: she seemed to be older too, but not so old she wouldn't have been mistaken for being the same age as him.

"Oh, sorry Darren, totally forget you were swinging by tonight" the girl replied as she got up off the floor and placed a bowl of hot soapy water on the island.

"Yeah, Hi Jeanie..." he replied offhand and stepped inside, "...What was it this time?" he asked in a downcast tone; knowing what he was referring to, Jeanie sighed as she threw the sponge back into the water and took off the rubber washing-up gloves she'd been wearing.

"Roxy had another go at Chelsea, _again_" she huffed in annoyance

"So where's she now?" he asked

"Chelsea? Up in her room sulking"

"And everyone else?"

"Roxy went out with Rosy in tow (big surprise there) Mom and dad went over to your mom and dad for family therapy, Allie's still up in her room waiting for things to calm down: Lizzy's gone getting up to God knows what, and Violet's having a sleep-over at a friend's house"

"And Max?"

"Where do you think?" she sighed with an exasperated look

"Ah..." Darren nodded, not needing to ask.

"She hasn't called Chelsea...but then, she's not been calling her as much of late" Jeanie added

"After the fight they had last week I'm not surprised" he replied offhand, somewhat downcast.

"Yeah..." she nodded; she looked like she wanted to say more, but for whatever reason she didn't.

"Uh? ...Listen, when Uncle Will get's home, could you tell him I fixed his notebook?" Darren said as he placed the notebook on the nearby counter.

"Sure thing" Jeanie nodded

"...Anything else?" he asked

"Roxy asked (or rather demanded) that you take another look at her laptop, she's forgotten her password (again); but I told her you called and said you were too busy" she smiled

"Thanks" Darren smiled, "'night" he waved goodbye as he stepped out of the kitchen: "bye" Jeanie called after him as he disappeared around the front of the house.

When Darren climbed back into Trailbreaker and sat down, he breathed a heavy regretful sigh, and leaned forward to look up at the bedroom windows; no one was there, but he could almost feel the tension and emotions emanating from within. For a long moment he didn't say anything, as he contemplated the scenario that was going on within the walls of this house, and what it would mean if it were to drag on. Finally he buckled up and turned the key in his guardian's ignition.

"So? Is everything okay in there?"

Darren paused a moment, before sighing again and replying "...I think I've made things worse..."

* * *

Tranquility National Park: 11:13pm

She ran

She didn't know where she was going

She didn't know how long she'd been running for

But she didn't care: she kept running, she had too, she had no choice

Between panting and sobbing hysterically, she tried to stay on her feet as she navigated through the thick undergrowth with nothing but the moon to light her way: the ligature wounds on her wrists and ankles were bleeding, with raw pain pulsating with every footfall; the cuts, abrasions and lacerations all over the rest of her body stung worse than anything she'd ever known. But her adrenaline was way too high to let the pain be noticed so easily: her only priority was to run, get as far away as possible, and by some miracle hope that she'd run into help.

Finally, the highway was in sight as a steady stream of lights flowed back and forth along the tarmac river that snaked its way into the city on the horizon; finally a allowing a smile to cross her lips, her legs sprinted hell for leather down the steep incline: stumbling a few times, she quickly got back up and didn't look back as she finally caught sight of the guard rail...

...The honk of a passing car muffled the sound the gunfire behind her...

She fell as pain surged up her leg: looking down, half of her right leg was a bloody bleeding stump of blown-off muscle, fractured bone and frayed tissue. Looking around, she saw what was left of the several limb some few feet away...

...Looking back over her shoulder, tears poured down her bloodied face as she saw the figure slowly, purposely stalking towards her from out of the bushes; she sobbed uncontrollably, totally resigning herself to the inevitable as he raised the bloodied machete over his head, and brought it down hard...

The loud honk of a speeding Peterbuilt drowned out her final scream

A few moments later, there was nothing, no one and nothing around: except for the bloodied drag marks in the moist earth that lead back into the thick undergrowth, and disappeared up among the thick forest.

Nearby, the highway continued to flow with traffic.

* * *

**"My social skills are fine; it's my tolerance towards idiots that needs improving!" I've wanted to have Sunstreaker say that for ages! with someone like Sideswipe for a brother, it's so totally something I'd expect him say! XDDDDDD**

**A/N: I wasn't to sure about this chapter, whether it 'jumped' into the story too suddenly without enough build up; but you gotta start somewhere, and I wanted to get a sense of curiosity, and with that last section of the chapter, suspension. **

**The killer here will have a roll to play later on in the story so be sure to put a pin in him for later; in case your wondering what kinda shot would take a limb off like that? That would be a slug, I couldn't make my mind up which caliber to go with, but it's defiantly one of the larger ones: slugs are nasty, they don't just wound, they decimate and make mince meat out of tissue and bone. Not nice at all :( **

**Please let me know what you think, cheer's for reading!**


	3. Chpt 2: Meet the Cousins

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

Warning: some slight sexual innuendo; just so you're aware okay? oh, and a whole bunch of verbal profanity towards the end of the chapter.

* * *

LEMONS & CHERRIES

Chapter 2: Meet The Cousins, & Welcome to Earth

The next morning:

"-So, any incoming data from the automated scanners is instantly uploaded to the network where necessary, so it saves having to manually switch between the programs and potentially create a conflict between the software alignments" Moonshine explained as she pressed a button on Glen's CTG, and a small hologram instantly flickered to life from out of the gauntlet's holo-projector, and a list of data began scrolling down.

"So any alterations in the code could crash the whole thing" Glen realized, "I'll have to make a note of that"

"Oh, I already have!" Moonshine beamed, "You didn't think I'd make these and not install an instruction manual? Everything you need to know is on there, filed under the maintenance folder"

This morning had started on quite a nice note for the NEST 'interns'; seated on Moonshine's metallic belly and shoulders as she curled up right next to the humans mess area: the femme had been explaining the ins and outs of their new 'equipment' over breakfast/first energon rations of the day. To say they were impressed was certainly an understatement: the new gauntlets had attracted the attention of most of the other NEST troops as they wandered over to get a better look. All throughout breakfast the kids had been fiddling and messing around with their CTG's, trying to get a feel for them.

Switching the holo-projector of her CTG on, Morri was amazed at the small laptop-like layout of the hologram; as she waved her hand through the sculptured laser-light, the icons and keys responded to her fingers and their movement. Right away she tried to move the cursor around, but found it wasn't as easy as it looked, and as she tried to adjust her fingers to achieve the desired result, she couldn't help but smile as a little green warning sign kept reminding her that she wasn't doing it right. "How the hell do you control this thing?" she chuckled.

"Oh you'll get the hang of it, you can adjust the touch-scanners for a more comfortable setting" Moonshine replied

"Damn it you kids get all the fun stuff to play with" one of the rookie soldiers huffed

"Hey when do I get me one' o those?" another rookie asked offhand

"When you grow up" Bishop stated tonelessly as he strode into the mess area, all at once every soldier stood to attention: "At ease: as you were gentlemen" he added as he wandered over to the canteen. At that moment Major Lennox walked in, and the tone of the atmosphere immediately changed as he sat down and heaved a heavy sigh.

"Hey..." Miles offered, "...Sorry about last night dude"

"It's okay ..." Will waved it off, but the downcast mood on his face was plain to see for all, "At least no one was hurt"

"Yeah but having your home burgled? That ain't on man" Glen replied

"Will the insurance cover the damages?" Tom asked

"They said we'll be okay for the security upgrade and the cost of the electrical appliances," the Major sighed, "But getting our personal belongings back? ...You _can't_ put a price on something that's been so dear to your heart"

"You mean Sarah's broach? She told me about it over the phone: she's really broken up about it" Mikaela replied.

"That broach had been in her family for over _four _generations: the emerald and diamonds came all the way from India, and were cut and set by one of the finest jewelers in Vienna; it was only one of twenty ever made, and now it's being pawned somewhere for a quick buck" Will stated bitterly.

"Well? The police _did_ say they managed to get a clean set of finger prints off the door and windows, that's a good start as any, right?" Becca offered, trying to lighten the mood.

"If it's anything at all; they're all out looking for that serial killer at the moment, they've hardly got anyone to spare as it is" Will huffed.

"Speaking of which: I heard the news bulletin earlier, apparently they found more victims" Morri pointed to the radio.

: -And now, the morning news at eight' o clock...: said the radio sitting on the canteen counter.

"Hey! Turn that up! I wanna listen!-" Miles hollered to one of the cooks, who promptly turned the volume up; as if on cue the whole mess paused and fell silent, listening with particular interest as the news reader continued.

: ... This morning, the hunt for the Tranquility Valley killer took a grizzly turn with the discovery of three new bodies found dumped in sparse woodland on the north side of the Tranquility National Park. Discovered by one of the park's rangers at around five o' clock this morning, the bodies had been excoriated, decapitated, and completely drained of their blood. Police were able to confirm the killer's connection to the victims from forensic evidence left at the scene; however, finding the perpetrator is easier said than done, as no new leads have emerged that might point authorities to a likely suspect... This comes just three days after the discovery of a shallow mass grave deep in the heart of the park: where today police forensic investigators have confirmed the remains of over _eighty two victims_: all female and all having met their end, in what authorities are describing as 'an exercise in pure evil, and absolute sadism at its worst'. However, whether this will be the final figure remains uncertain, as the investigators have expanded their search to cover more ground, and to try and determine just how many more victims there are... At the present time the authorities have announced that the park will be closed and patrolled around the clock, so as to try and flush the killer out and prevent further abductions; police are advising all hunter's, campers, hikers and wildlife enthusiasts to vacate the park immediately and to warn others to stay away until further notice. We'll keep you posted as the details come in; and now onto to today's financial news-: the cook turned the radio off. A collective wave of gasps and sighs rippled throughout the mess as everyone went back to eating they're breakfasts.

"_Eighty two?!" _ Danny's face dropped

"That's sick dude" Miles winced uncomfortably

"Yeah but, _eighty two victims?_ How the hell do you get away with _that_ much murder without anyone noticing anything?" Becca gasped

"It's a pretty remote area" Epps said offhand, "Me an' my brother camped up there once when we were kids; once you get up past the valley and you're at the foot of the mountain, your about ten miles from anywhere in either direction. You could do anything in that forest and no one would know"

"It was only sheer dumb luck that bug guy stumbled across it in the first place" Sam replied

"Bug guy?" Becky asked

"Oh, the first report of the grave's location said that some bug expert from the university was out studying moths or something in that area, he lost his footing on one of the trails and fell down right on top of it. He got reacquainted with his lunch and breakfast real fast" Sam explained

"And ever since then they've been churning bodies out one after another" Tom sighed

"Think they'll catch him?" Mikaela asked offhand

"That remains to be seen, but if and when they do it'll be straight to the needle for him" Bishop threw in as he walked out of the mess with an apple in hand.

"Geez, and I thought the cons were sadistic" Moonshine grimaced

"Yep, there are some pretty fucked up weirdo's out there" Miles nodded nonchalantly,

"...Could-, you excuse me? I gotta go-" Darren blurted out as he hastily got up from his table, grabbed his laptop and strode out of the mess without even saying his usual 'catch you guys later'. The kids watched him in bemusement as he disappeared out the door, somewhat curious at his subtle change in attitude.

"What was that all about?" Will raised a curious eyebrow.

"Dunno, but he's been real quiet this past month" Glen shrugged

"It started a couple of weeks ago-" Mikaela interjected as she slid off of Moonshine's belly and sat down next to the Major: "...He's been having 'family issues' at home. Ever since the hunt for Barricade went to kerb-side duty he's been home a lot more than usual, and from what I gather he's been having trouble with his cousins" she explained in a hushed voice.

"Trouble? Prime did mention to me the other day that he's been off his game of late" Will replied, "Has he said anything to you guys?" he glanced over at the other kids.

"Not anything specific" the Waineright twins shrugged

"Whatever it is he won't talk to us about it, and Trailbreaker's been keeping pretty discreet too" Morri offered

Contemplating the issue for a quick moment, Will got up and left the mess.

"Where're you going?" Glen called over

"To talk to him" Will called over his shoulder as he disappeared around the door.

"What was that all about?" Ashley asked as he approached the table with two treys of food and three mugs of tea in hand.

"No idea" Morri raised a quizzical eyebrow

"Ah well..." Ashley shrugged as he sat up at the table, and eyed both plates, which were practically two small mountains of English breakfast with the full works: staring at the food in wide-eyed amazement, the others were somewhat lost for words as the hybrid eagerly tucked into his first plate-load.

"Uh? Have you got enough there?" Tom grimaced as he eyed the sheer amount of fried food.

"What? I'm hungry" Ashley innocently replied.

* * *

A few minutes later:

Casually strolling into Wheeljack's lab was not something one did lightly: considering the inventor's partialness for tinkering with devices that had a tendency to blow up unexpectedly, it was understandable that many of the NEST troops didn't venture in here, unless they were accompanied by one of the other bots or by one of their own demolition squad. Unless you knew the layout of the place and had a good idea where most of the volatile inventions were housed, it didn't pay to come into the lab offhand.

Despite the fact he'd been in here dozens of times before, the sight of the chaotic lab and its varying clutter still made the Major nervous on occasion: wondering if something might blow up, or worse. He didn't dawdle, and made a beeline straight for the inventor, who was (literally) knee deep in some strange machine, tinkering around with the wires and cables and getting more and more tangled up himself.

"Hey uh? Wheeljack?" Will called up to him; the Autobot inventor glanced around, then down at the floor: "Major!" he beamed as he removed his welding mask and bent down, "What brings you to my lab?"

"The intern duty roster had Darren down for basic maintenance with you today, is he around?"

"Sure, he's in the back," Wheeljack thumbed over his shoulder to the door at the far end of the room, "Just watch your feet as you step in, I haven't had a chance to pick up the cables yet" the inventor added as he placed his mask back on and got back to work. The Major navigated his way through the mess of piled up junk and other strange things until he slipped through the door and gingerly stepped over the mass of cables snaking in all directions across the floor. At the end of the room, sitting atop one of the bot-sized shelving units, Darren glanced down and was a little surprised to see the major standing there.

"Hey there" Will greeted

"Hi" Darren replied nonchalantly, "If you want that report I'll be finishing it up later: I couldn't finish it the day before as Frenzy kept nicking my paper"

"The report can wait..." Will stated as he climbed up the shelf and sat next to him on the edge, "I'm here to talk"

"Talk? About what? I ain't got no problem" Darren replied as he got back to work.

"I think we both know that's not _quite_ true..." Will stated softly. Darren paused, put his tools down, and glanced up at the Major; for a moment he didn't reply, and as he studied the man, he realized he might not be able to make excuses. "...I don't wish to pry," Will sighed, "But-, everyone's been worried about you. You're work's not been up to your usual standard and Prime's been wondering if everything's okay?"

"I'm fine..." Darren stated bluntly as he got back to work, but as several seconds passed, a glazed look came over his eyes and he stopped and heaved a heavy disappointed sigh, "...No, I'm not fine..." he admitted reluctantly.

"Care to share it with me? ..." Will offered

Darren looked at him sceptically; but knowing this was his friend he was talking to, something at the back his mind told him it was okay, and so he sighed again as he raked his thoughts on where to begin. "...Things-...haven't been going well with my family of late..." he stated, the reluctance in his voice wasn't hard to miss, but the Major simply nodded in understanding.

"Family issues?" he asked

"Yeah, and not the good kind..." Darren explained uncomfortably, "...Three years ago, my dad found out that his little brother, Andrew, had-, taken his own life... They hadn't seen each other since they were kids, and my dad and his brother (my uncle) had spent time trying to find him when they could...Needless to say Dad's been pretty depressed about it: not all the time, but-, there are moments when he can't help but feel guilty for not finding him sooner; my uncle too, only he took it harder"

"I'm so sorry"

"I didn't know the guy so it's no great loss on me, but dad and Uncle Will-"

"_Uncle Will?_" Lennox grinned

"Yeah, two Wills I know, how about that?" Darren smiled offhand, "Anyway-" he continued, "-He and Uncle Will have been trying to make sense of it. But that's only been half the issue, as not only did we all learn about Andrew's suicide, but he was a father too"

"You have cousins?" Will blinked in surprise

"Yeah, but at the time we were told about it they were both pulling a six month stint in Juvi: oh, and he'd been dead for over ten years, they only _just_ found out about it (at the time) because someone in family services dropped the ball with the paperwork: so we didn't know until three years ago" Darren sarcastically explained

"So no one in the family knew he'd been dead all that time? What'd happened to?..."

"Max and Chelsea..." Darren added, "They were with their mom: came and went most of the time (mostly went); not that she was an ideal mother as she had priors for drug dealing, theft, prostitution and GBH, not to mention she had serious anger management issues. After they went to juvi she packed up, left home, and has been AWOL ever since; didn't leave any forwarding number, address, nothing"

"Shame on her" Will thought aloud; he was half tempted to ask why his cousins had been sent to juvi in the first place, but he thought it best not to be too nosy: "...So what happened?

"After their sentence was up the state and family services handed them over to my Uncle, making him and Aunt Lorie their legal guardians. They went to live with them and my _other _cousins: Roxy, Allie, Rosy, Jeanie, Lizzy and Violet, and from day one it's been one Jerry Springer show after another" he drolled

"Conflict of character?"

"Conflict of _everything_" Darren huffed, "It's bad enough discovering you have a family you had no idea existed before, but when you've been living on the streets near the red light district most of your life there's gonna be _way more_ than just a few differences that set you apart from everyone else in the family"

"Ah, differences in upbringing" Will nodded

"That barely even covers it: for the first year the girls were always fighting with the family, over anything and everything. Finally it got so bad that their parole officer signed them up for family counseling, and they couldn't back out or they'd go straight back to juvi: the whole family had to attend too (which didn't sit well with most)...After the 'counseling' was complete things quietened down and it was actually pretty okay for a while; Chelsea finally began to come around and she managed to get herself together at last. But Max was still quite resentful, she may not have constantly ranted about it but she still found ways to let us all know she couldn't give a shit about us...For the most part nothing major went down, until a few months ago when Max and Uncle Will had a major falling out, and soon after that, I found this..." Darren reached into his pocket, pulled out a small envelop and handed it to the Major, "...When they first came to live with the family Dad wanted to make sure they'd be okay, but at the same time he wanted to be certain they didn't get up to anything that could mean trouble; so, after agreeing to help him out in return for some favors I started hacking Uncle Will's computer and the girl's laptops: not to pry too much or anything like that, but just to check for anything that might suggest something was off. And sure enough I found out that Max was still in touch with her old crew: but more than that, she was planning to pull _that_ off..." he gestured to the envelope.

Will took out the letter inside: and as he read over its contents, his eyebrows flew up in surprise. "She was going to say he _raped_ her?"

"Yes (not that the police would believe her anyway, they already checked him out and he's clean). She'd been blackmailing him for weeks while we were gone in that other universe. That morning I left to come to the base, the day we were supposed to go camping? My hacking programme picked up that email and forwarded it to my laptop while simultaneously deleting it from the computer Max had drafted it on. That's the only printed copy, and as far as she knows it was a Trojan virus that made the computer loose the email"

"Unbelievable..." Will breathed as he handed him back the letter,

"Uncle Will didn't tell the police 'cuz he wanted to try and handle it his own way; but, it's not really been working out: things went downhill while I was gone and now Max is out every night and sometimes doesn't come back for days at a time, and when she is home it's only to pick up food, clothes and cash; but worse for her, this time around Chelsea doesn't want to hang with her anymore, and that's pissed her off big-time"

"They close?"

"When they first came to live with the family they did everything together: totally inseparable; but over the last three years Chelsea's realized that there's more to life than being-, her 'old self', that she didn't have to be, _'what she was'_ anymore. But Max is way too stubborn to see anything past her own selfishness and cynicism, and it's starting to really push everyone to the edge...Things have been bad, but they've never been _this _bad before..." Darren sighed as he held his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes.

'_What she was? ...'_ the Major thought curiously: "...What do you want to do?" he asked

"Hm?"

"Look, if you need time off to go sort things out with your family I'd gladly sign you off for-"

"No no it's okay, really: I've been doing this as best I know how, and that's through a computer. I get brain-ache trying to figure out ordinary women at the best of times, but my cousins? They're a Molotov cocktail waiting to rip my balls off..." he drolled, but then paused as a look of regret came over his face, "...No, that's not fair on Jeanie and Allie, or Chelsea; their okay, _them _I can have a conversation with. But the rest? Roxy's the most hated slut on Facebook, Rosy can't even spell the word 'blue' forget having much of a brain to figure anything else out that even _a layman_ would pick up in a heartbeat, Lizzy's a one-girl prank-spree who could literally prank the proverbial pants off both the Chevy _and_ Lambo twins _in her sleep_, and Violet? She's just a spoilt brat who knows how to throw the mother of all temper-tantrums. _I can't win_ whichever way I try to engage them, but when Max comes into the picture? Oh boy, it's time to hunker in the bunker and wait for the ceasefire: you don't wanna get in the middle of _that_ kinda carnage, and with that letter now common knowledge to everyone, it's been an all-out bloodbath"

Will let a moment of silence pass, letting the tension mellow out before he spoke up again: "...So what are you trying to do?"

"...I'm _trying_ the best I can..." was all Darren found he could say. "It's bad enough my dad and his brother are still grieving Andrew, but with the girls constantly fighting, and mum and Aunt Lorie struggling to keep everything in perspective (and everyone in check, lest there be any violent domestic disturbances); Everyone is pulling everyone is all different directions, and I'm left to try and pick up the pieces..." he paused a moment as he drew in breath, "...I'm doing what I can, _all_ I can for my family; but no matter what happens it's just getting _worse_..."

Another long paused dragged out between them: despite the fact Darren's face was blank and unwavering, the stress and despair was there in his eyes: no tears nor sadness, but rather sense of being lost, stressed, and confused. Will put his arm around him, and gently patted him on the shoulder.

"...Does Trailbreaker know?" Will asked softly

"I know..." the black bot softly replied as he walked into the room, "Please, forgive my 'eves-dropping', but I heard you talking and-, I couldn't help but listen..." he offered demurely as he walked over to the shelf and gently cupped his hand around his charge, letting him lean back into his fingers. "It's okay bud..." Darren sighed, as he stroked his thumb.

"I worry for him," Trailbreaker sighed, "And I'm at a loss what to do"

"Well? ..." the Major thought a moment as he tried to sum up the right wisdom to offer: "...When trying to resolve a crisis, sometimes you have to step back, and try to-

**: Alert! Code amber, four Autobot ID signatures detected: approaching earth's orbit and commencing planet-fall within ten minutes: All Autobots report to the command center immediately:** Teletran blared over the base's intercom speakers.

Glancing at one another in astonishment, it was a second before Trailbreaker scooped up the two humans into his hands, bounded over the mess in Wheeljack's lab, and jogged down the corridor towards the command center.

"Four new bots?!" Darren gasped,

"I know! What luck!" Trailbreaker grinned

"Who are they?" Will asked as he tried to steady himself

"No idea, but we'll know once we get to the command hub!" the black bot replied as he joined the other bots and NEST troops who were all running in the same direction.

* * *

A little while later: in Tranquility:

The tension in the car was uncomfortable

As she twiddled her thumbs, staring down at the foot-well, her sister let out another sharp huff: like a puff adder sizing up its enemy. Sensing her little sister's anxiety, she let out a long sigh and tried to let some of the tension in her frustration go.

"Look, I'm not angry at you okay? I'm just-, _still pissed_ off about last night" Roxy vented.

"I know..." Allie replied nervously, "But-, you still shouldn't yelled at her like that, _you know _she can't control her temper"

"Yeah well that's not my problem, if that little trailer-trash bitch hadn't stolen my cell to be calling her homies at all hours of the night, we wouldn't have had that little 'conversation' would we?" Roxy frowned

"You threw Jeanie's spaghetti at her" Allie pointed out

"I don't care! She started it!" she whined, at that Allie instantly shut up. Roxy pulled the car over to the side of the street, where her two other sisters were waiting with a couple of bags of groceries in hand: they loaded their shopping into the trunk and got into the back; after buckling up, Roxy sped off, narrowly missing an old man and his dog as they tried to cross the street.

"Starbucks?" Roxy asked

"Starbucks" Rosy nodded

"Get all the groceries?" Allie asked, trying to make light conversation

"All the stuff that was wasted last night" Jeanie sighed as she folded her arms in discontent, "Stuff which, by the way_ I_ forked out for!"

"Oh get over it already it was just dinner" Roxy scoffed

"Dinner I spent nearly an hour putting together" Jeanie frowned at her eldest sister, "You just _had _to be immature didn't you?"

Roxy didn't reply, and made her way to their favorite Starbucks; once parked up and paid for their coffee, the girls sat at their favorite table outside the front of the cafe, watching the people stroll by as they sipped their lattes, mocha's and cappuccinos. But despite the silence, the uneasiness and tension from said incident was hanging over them like a dark cloud; unable to take it anymore, Jeanie glanced at Roxy with a reprimanding look.

"Chelsea cried all night last night" she stated purposely

"And I give a shit because?" Roxy nonchalantly glanced at her

"You provoked that fight on purpose" Jeanie frowned

"As if!-" Roxy scoffed, "Look, this whole thing was her fault, if she and her sister-"

"Oh please! Not this again!" Jeanie facepalmed, "Look, she just wanted to call Max to check to see if she was okay; I was _gonna_ give her my cell to borrow, but somehow _your_ cell ended up in her bag before I could even ask"

"Not my fault she stole it" Roxy shot back as she took a sip of her latte

"Her bag was in her room the whole time and I know for a fact she had the door locked..." Jeanie glared at her, "...What did you bribe Lizzy with this time? And _don't lie to me _Roxy, we _both know_ Lizzy can pick locks as good as any cat-burglar: what did you promise her this time huh?"

Roxy didn't reply

"Fine, be that way: but just so you know, dad wants to talk to you about last night"

"Whatever, it's not my fault those bitches decided to make a mess of our lives; and what they did this time is _totally_ unforgivable!"

"I'll admit, that letter was totally reckless-"

"Reckless?" Rosy cut in, "_They were gonna tell the police our dad's a pedophile!_ That's way more than just reckless Jeanie!"

Jeanie paused a moment as she tried to think

"What? You can't think of _anything_ to justify that little white lie? How the fuck can you stand up for them? After everything they've done you would gladly turn your back on your own family for a couple of thieving trailer-trash sluts?" Roxy argued facetiously.

"Max has taken this to a new low, I'll admit; but Chelsea had _nothing_ to do with that letter!" Jeanie shot back

"And you know that for a fact?" Rosy frowned

"Yes"

Roxy looked her square in the eye for a moment, before smiling: "Liar. You _know_ she helped write that letter, you just don't wanna be proved wrong" she scoffed

"What? This isn't about me!" Jeanie protested

"Oh isn't it? Little miss Dr Phil trying to get us all to make up and be all goody-goody to each other? Give it a rest Jeanie, no one's interested" Roxy sarcastically retorted

"Then why hasn't dad thrown them out of the house yet? Our better yet, why didn't he call the police?"

Roxy paused, as did the other sisters, who stared at her in confusion.

"Dad is trying like crazy to keep this family from falling apart, and none of you are helping! If anyone's as much the cause of the problem it's you!"

Roxy looked away nonchalantly.

"What? You got nothing to come back with?" Jeanie shot back, "Do us all a favor Roxy and keep your trap shut for a change"

"But-" Allie tried to cut in, "What about Lizzy and Violet? Don't they get a say in this?"

"Uhg!-" Roxy huffed in annoyance, "Allie, Violet's seven years old, she's way too young to know what the hell's going on, and Lizzy's too much of a pre-teen and wrapped up in her own bullshit to care anyway. This whole thing is on our plate, and I'll be _fucked_ if I have to live under the same roof as the trailer-trash"

"Seriously, that letter was the last straw" Rosy threw in, "You can't get any lower that _that_"

Jeanie was about to argue back when Roxy's cell phone suddenly went off, drawing the girl's attention when the display screen indicated 'Lizzy' was calling. Passing another annoyed huff, Roxy whipped the flip-phone open and grumbled: "What is it Lizzy?"

: Hey sis! Uh? Listen, I'm kinda sorta in a bit of tight spot, do you think you could maybe swing by and perhaps pick me up? : Lizzy asked in a sugary sweet voice.

"And what makes you think I'll help you, runt?" Roxy shot back in a factious tone

At that moment, a click could be heard over the phone, followed by the sound of two people breathing heavily and moaning together in ecstasy: Roxy's face nearly dropped when she recognized one of the voices was her own, and nearly choked on her coffee when she heard herself cry out: "Oh my god! You're cock's so much bigger than Steve's!"

: I'll tell mom and dad all about your little 'museum trip' with Ken last week, that is, if you don't get your ass over here right now and pick me up; they don't have to know a thing: Lizzy added, the smugness in her voice wasn't hard to miss, and Roxy began to seethe: "_You little_ _bitch_" she growled into the phone.

: I know: Lizzy added nonchalantly, purposely rubbing it in,: Now get over here, twenty minutes, don't be late, and be sure to bring a spare latte with you, I'm parched! : And with that, the other end of the line went dead. Closing her phone with a hard snap, Roxy was about to let rip, when she noticed her sister's staring at her in a deadpan tone.

"What?" she demanded

"Who did you sleep with this time?" Jeanie drolled

Roxy nearly chocked: "Wha-" But Jeanie whipped her hand up and stopped her right there: "Just-, _don't... _" She grumbled in exasperation, making it clear she was in no mood to be palmed off with any more bullshit today. "Go get the car, I'll get another latte, and we'll go"

Deciding not to argue, Roxy got up and fumbled around her handbag for her car keys: followed closely by her sisters as she made her way back to where she'd parked the car, all the while cursing and promising a world of hurt for her little sister when she finally got her hands on her.

* * *

Thirty miles west of Tranquility:

Four flaming meteors streaked through the clouded sky in a near-perfect formation, coming in at a steep angle and hitting the ground simultaneously with a mighty BOOOM! Sending up a giant plume of dirt, sand and rock; as their outer exteriors cooled down, the flames subsided: revealing four smooth cybertronian interstellar travel pods. Suddenly, one of the pods opened up and transformed into its bipedal mode; stretching its legs out and standing up, the grey and silver cybertronian looked around at its surroundings, before planting both hands on its hips and huffing in frustration : "Well this sucks!" she vented.

"Oh come on Veebee! We only just got here!" one of the other pods replied, as it too transformed and stood upright, followed by the other two, who were equally surprised and curious at the sight of the desert scrub.

"_This_, is where we're gonna be living?!" the first femme gestured to the surrounding scrub, "Bluebird, it's covered in dirt and-, EWW! _Organic things_!" she cringed with horror as she spotted a lizard dart under a rock, "Where're the refueling stations huh? The energon refineries? The _body shops!_" she whined, "Look at me! I look like I just got sucked into an insecticon's tailpipe and spat out through his fuel port!"

"We just traveled over _eight million light years of outer space!_ What did you think you were gonna look like?!" the smaller of the four retorted as she folded her arms.

"A damn slaggin sight better than this Firefly!"

"Hey come on," the third femme put both her arms around them, "Let's not start our first day on earth with another cyber-cat fight okay? We're here now, we're all in one piece, and we got ourselves a new planet to call home!" she beamed

"Tangostar, if this is Prime's idea of a home he's more over the hill than I thought!" Veebee scoffed

"Well, his message didn't give any specifics, just the co-ordinates the solar system" Bluebird replied offhand

"Look, I'm sure the base must be nearby, we did land on the right continent so it can't be more than a few thousand miles away _at least_" Tangostar threw in.

"Then in that case, we better start making tracks" Bluebird stated as she climbed up out of the hole and started walking off.

"Where're you going?!" Veebee called after her.

"To try and find an altmode: according to the 'in-ter-net', the native species drives around in terrain vehicles, we're gonna need a good modal if we're to blend in" she replied, glancing at each other, the three femmes scrambled out and took off after her. Before long, they could hear the sound of traffic, and as they cautiously peered out from around a rock formation, they saw a huge highway with countless vehicles speeding by.

"Wow!" Tangostar breathed

"Awesome!" Firefly beamed

"Look at all those _designs!_" Veebee squealed with excitement, "Oh my Primus! I'm gonna be the talk of the base with _that _for an altmode!" she smiled as she eyed a particularly flashy black Lamborghini roar by.

"Their all pretty impressive, but remember, we need-" Bluebird stopped in her tracks when she saw a little VW 2000 pull over to the side of the highway. "...Perfect!" she beamed, "That'll do all of us nicely!"

"_That _stumpy little thing?!" Veebee gawked

"Kinda looks cute to me" Tangostar beamed

"Meh, I don't mind" Firefly shrugged, "Just as long as I can pick my _own _color this time"

"Three outta four: majority wins Veebee" Bluebird smirked; Veebee grumbled something under her breath before sighing in defeat: "Fine!"

And with that, the femmes all activated their scanners and scanned the car inside and out, once complete, the femmes all transformed into their new altmode's and changed the paint color too; Veebee's was a bold bright pink with a magenta iridescence, Bluebird was a pale sky blue with turquoise iridescence, Tangostar's was a tangerine orange with a peach iridescence, and Firefly's was a pale mint green with lime green iridescence.

"Nice!" Bluebird smiled to herself through her new car radio

"Not bad I guess?" Veebee proverbially shrugged

"I guess I can make this work" Firefly threw in,

"Then let's get going!" Tangostar revved her engines up, "I'm hunkering for a tall cube of the pink stuff!", Voicing their agreement, the three other sisters took off onto the highway, following the flow of traffic as it made its way westwards.

"So? Any ideas where to start looking for the other Autobots?" Veebee asked offhand

"Well first of all, it would be prudent to do some research; find out where this route is going and if there's any way it'll lead us to our destination" Bluebird reasoned

"Ohohohoh! According to this 'in-ter-net' there's a human city about thirty 'my-yells' up ahead! Some place called 'Tranquility'!" Firefly eagerly spoke up as she scanned the internet.

"Well? With a name like that it can't be all bad eh?" Tangostar reasoned

"Agreed, let's make a start scouting there" Bluebird agreed as she took point and led the way.

"You know? I gotta good feeling about this!" Firefly added.

* * *

An hour later, back in Tranquility:

As if the tension in the car was tense enough, Lizzy wasn't doing herself any favors as she sat wedged between Rosy and Allie in the backseat with a smug look of satisfaction plastered across her face, secretly reveling in the victory of her latest prank. In the driver's seat, Roxy kept her eyes on the road with a seething look of ire burning in her eyes. She _hated it _when her little sister blackmailed her, and this time she had her by the proverbial balls.

"Oh come on!" Lizzy finally broke the silence, "What are you all so miserable about? We got out okay and no one got hurt, so what's the beef?"

"The 'beef' is that you stole the football team's jockstraps, painted them florescent pink and hung them all up on the school flag pole!" Jeanie frowned

"They had it coming, that's what you get for trying to cheat me at poker" Lizzy scoffed

"You shouldn't have crashed their poker night in the first place!" Jeanie angrily shot back

"Hey, Cherry bombs, itching power and laxatives don't pay for themselves you know? And with mom and dad still keeping my allowance back I need some moolah to keep my supplies stocked up!" the pre-teen retorted

"Regardless, that was reckless. Funny, but reckless" Rosy pointed out

"And that doesn't even _begin_ to cover the sheer lack of regard you have for your safety as well as other peoples! What if you'd been caught? Those guys are seriously hardcore with the tempers to match! And that quarter-back Ricky Simons is a class-A jerk who'd beat the crap outta you in a heartbeat!" Jeanie shot at her. "He's _not_ gonna go easy on you just 'cuz you're a kid!"

"What're you so worried for? It's not like you come along or anything" Lizzy huffed as she folded her arms.

"That's not the point! You could've gotten hurt or worse, _actually caught!_" Jeanie reprimanded.

"Pft!-" Lizzy waved off in a blase manner, "That'll never happen, I'm way too slick to get caught by those brain-dead idiots; besides, _if I do_ get caught I'll have you guys to bail me out, I'm your little sister and wouldn't let anything happen to me!" she scoffed

"What?!"

"No way!"

"Uh-uh! If you think for _one fucking minute_ I'd coming running to save your skinny ass, think again! This is _the last time_ I do _anything_ for you, you little parasite! The next time you're in trouble you can haul your own ass home!" Roxy fumed

"Yeah, and have me tell mom and dad (and Facebook) all about your 'flings', 'one-offs', 'booty-call's' and 'stolen boyfriends'? I still got all the recordings and camera footage, and you don't know where I've hidden them, so? Yeah, I'm gonna be requiring 'big-sis taxi service' for quite a while yet" Lizzy grinned slyly.

Roxy nearly all but lost it as she gripped the wheel so tight that her knuckles turned white. At that moment she slammed on the breaks as she approached a crossing, and as the little old lady standing at the kerb proceed to hobble across to the other side, Roxy wound down the window, and let loose her pent up frustration as she (essential) told her to hurry up, unleashing a string of curses and every profanity known to man at the poor woman. A tall burly sailor walking down the street blushed with embarrassment as he hid his face under his cap while the other people in the street stared at her in a mix of shock, horror, amusement and surprise.

Once she reached the other side, the little old lady turned and flipped the bird at her: "Go buy yourself some manners you little blonde shithead!" she shouted angrily. Roxy was about to go in for round two when Jeanie reached her foot across to the pedals and slammed on the accelerator, "_Save it!_" she sternly shouted, "Just get us home!"

Roxy glared daggers at her, but didn't respond as she kept her eyes on the road; while Lizzy tried to stop herself from bursting into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, the other girls merely slouched down in the seats, totally embarrassed, and praying no one had a camera phone back at that crossing.

But then, quiet unexpectedly: smoke began to rise up from under the hood.

"Oh what the fuck now?!" Roxy fumed as she pulled over.

BOOOOM!

The girls screamed in terror as the explosion blew the hood clean off its hinges and a small fire engulfed the whole engine; the sister's all scrambled out and ran some distance down the street, only turning back to watch as the front of the vehicle went up in smoke. As Roxy's frayed nerve ascended to a whole new level, all but Lizzy looked on in shock.

"Huh, so that's where Violet hid my cherry bombs?" Lizzy thought aloud, at that, Roxy whipped her head round and gawked at her in utter shock.

"Oh shit!" she cursed under her breath, realizing it might have been better not to have said that out loud.

* * *

At the same time, thirty miles west of Tranquility:

"Well? You don't need an energon residue scanner to tell they landed here" Sam thought aloud as he inspected the still-smoking crater.

"Undoubtedly" Will concurred: "So why didn't they respond to our hails?"

"They must have past too close to the North Pole upon entering the planet's atmosphere and the magnetic field disabled their comm system. Or, they do not know our particular encrypted frequencies" Prime reasoned as he gazed down at the crater. "I followed their trail to the highway. You were right Optimus; they've already acquired new altmode's and have taken off" Ironhide stated as he approached, "So the question now is, which way did they go?" Bluestreak asked offhand as he scratched the back of his helm.

"My instincts say they headed towards the city" Bumblebee suggested, "Plenty of places to hide, and easy enough to lose a pursuing con"

"Very well..." Prime nodded,: **All search parties maintain your positions, we're heading into the city to search for them**: he informed the other bots over the comm. "...Come, we better go too" he said as she transformed into his Peterbuilt form and reconnected to his trailer: the other bots followed suit, opening their doors for their charges, and then followed the Prime over to the highway, where they joined the steady river of traffic westbound for Tranquility.

"So? Our first ambassadorial duty?" Sam nervously thought aloud, "Man why did _I _pick the short straw for this?"

"Relax; you'll be great" Bumblebee assured him, "How bad could they be?"

* * *

**How bad you say Bee? oh you poor simple fool...;)**

**A/N: the story's gonna start picking up the pace over the next few chapters so it'll be quite a ride!**

**Also, I wanted to make one thing quite clear: Darren's Uncle Will (Roxy, Allie, Rosy, Jeanie, Lizzy and Violet's father) is not a pedophile, that was a lie Max made up to try and have him do what she wants. False Blackmail? yes, but the thing with pedophilia in general, is that while it's no issue to sneeze at, being accused of it can open a whole can of worms, and even if proved innocent of the crime, it's very hard if not impossible to shake off. Lives can be ruined by it, and its a stigma that can hang around one's neck for the rest of their lives. Max knows this, and isn't afraid to play dirty to get what she wants. We'll be introduced to her in the next chapter, though we won't get a more thorough 'intro' of sorts until a few chapters later when things settle down a little. the same goes for the rest of the girls & femmes too.**

**Please let me know what you think, & stay tuned!**

**Love you darlings!**


	4. Chpt 3: Follow the White Rabbit

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

Warning: A bit of cursing here and there, nothing too big really :)

* * *

LEMONS & CHERRIES

Chapter 3: Follow the White Rabbit

Later that day, mid-afternoon:

The sun shone brightly through the trees, dappling the light as it fell upon the pathway, all around the park was alive with the songs of birds and the laughter of children playing; lost in care-free abandonment. And drifting on the air, the smell of hot-dogs, burgers and freshly ground coffee wafted by, appealing to the appetites of those who's hunger had been sharpened by the long hot summer's day.

She liked coming here: it was one of the few places she could come to be alone with her thoughts.

She smiled as she spotted her favorite bench by the lake, and saw that it was empty; taking a seat and watching the ducks swim by, she was somewhat surprised when a familiar acquaintance sat himself down on the opposite end of the bench.

"Hey Chelsea..." he greeted her in a deep smooth rolling voice.

"Hey, detective Fowler..." Chelsea replied, a little surprised. Said acquaintance was a big bald black guy with dark coffee-hued skin, a mustache and a goatee, and dressed as though he was just another guy on the street; the gold police badge around his neck and the gun stashed away in its holster on his belt were the only indicators of him being a cop: though this didn't put Chelsea off as she relaxed a little, and straightened up as he continued. "No need to be formal, call me Marcus" he grinned, "Been a while since we last talked huh?"

"I guess? I've been kinda busy" Chelsea replied quietly; her aloofness didn't go unnoticed, and the detective relaxed his posture a little, trying not to give off the vibe he was being serious.

"So? How you holdin' up?" he asked offhand

"How do you think?" she glanced sideways at him, half wondering if she came off a little too obnoxious. But the detective didn't seem to have mind: "Ah..." he nodded in understand, "...I'm sorry about what happened, about the letter I mean"

Chelsea snapped her head up and stared at him in shock, but he held his hand up and assured her: "Hey its okay, I didn't tell anyone: and in case you're wonderin', your 'cousin' filled me in on the details..."

Chelsea let out a long exasperated sigh as she leaned forward and held her head in her hands; a long pause stretched out between them before she replied: "She's really gone and done it this time..." she shook her head in disbelief, "And the worst part? She hates my guts. Period. Permanently. _Forever"_

"Like that's stopped you from trying to talk some sense into her before, you two always manage to make up in the end" he offered

"Not this time" she replied sullenly, "She won't return my calls, she's out every day and night, and when she does come home it's only to get her stuff and to start another fight with Roxy. She won't listen to _anyone_ anymore"

"You sure about that? You two have always stuck together through thick and thin, I don't see how all those years between you can be forgotten over just one fight?" the detective reasoned

Chelsea sighed as she leaned back on the bench, "Well? Max _has_ forgotten it all, and she doesn't give a shit..."

The two of them sat there in silence for a long while, watching an old lady feed the ducks and swans, and gazing at the various people walking by.

"...I'm curious...did she say _why_ she did it?" Marcus asked offhand in a soft tone; Chelsea looked at him as she contemplated the question. "...She told me she was sick of it: sick of being in a family that _wasn't_ a family, and having to pretend that it was a happy family. I think? She thinks it's gonna be mom all over again, and that nothing will ever change..."

"I understand..." Marcus sighed, "Considering how she treated you two, I can't blame her for feeling so raw, even after three years"

"But that's just it-" Chelsea huffed, "It's been three years; I _get_ that she's still expecting all this to be one big lie and that family services will drag us back to Juvi, and I _get _why uncle Will's still upset about dad. I _get_ all that, but why am I the only the one (besides Jeanie, Allie and Darren) that knows it's time to leave it behind and move on? For god's sake I feel like I'm stuck in an episode of Dr Phil that never stops; when the hell's it gonna end?" she vented as she folded her arms.

"I can't answer that Chelsea" the detective sighed, "And even if I knew, it's not for me to find out... You guys were born into a life you didn't ask for, but you _do _have a choice as to how you spend the rest of that life. You've come a long way since when we first met and I'm pleased that you learnt the value of realizing that choice. But Chelsea, I _can't_ look out for you both all the time, and if Max does anything like this again I _won't_ be in a position to give her another chance"

"Don't you think I've told her that? I don't want her to go back to Juvi...and I don't want to go back either" Chelsea replied

"I know you don't kid..." he sighed as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small business card.

"But what am I supposed to do? Max won't let me come near her anymore, Roxy and Lizzy are only making things worse and Jeanie can't be there to help all the time: it's not like I got anyone else to talk to you know?"

"Listen, there's _always_ someone you can talk to; many people make it their mission in life to help others, and the lady who works here is a real good listener..." Marcus said as he handed her the card, as Chelsea took it, she noticed an address on the back: "If you just want to talk, she's always keep her doors open, and maybe, you could try and convince Max to come along too?"

"She won't come, she hates these kinda places" Chelsea sighed

"Hey, never say never kid; people change all the time, and sometimes all it takes is just the right thing to give them the incentive to change themselves in a big way: don't write Max off just 'cuz she won't listen, she's smart and she cares about you (even if she won't admit it). You just gotta be patient is all...Promise me you'll try an' give it a shot?"

She studied him for a long moment

"...I can't make any promises" she sighed in regret

"I know..." he nodded, "All I ask is that you try, okay?"

"Okay..." Chelsea nodded as she got up, stuffed the card into her pocket and walked off back the way she came, "...See ya"

"See ya kid" he waved good bye: and watched her as she disappeared around the corner of the path, obscured from view by the thick bushes.

"...Twenty dollars says she's going off to pick some pockets" Marcus's partner sighed as she stepped around the bush she'd been hiding behind, and sat down next to him: "I don't get it Fowler, why do you even bother? She and her sister are bad as each other, why even try?"

"Why do any of us try Ramirez?" he raised an eyebrow at her, "I could've asked the chief for a more seasoned partner, someone who knows how to walk these streets and know what their doin': but I didn't, 'cuz I thought you deserved a chance to prove your worth as a detective; and at the end of the day, how do any of us know what we're made of unless we're given the chance to discover it for ourselves?"

The female detective rolled her eyes in exasperation: "Damn Fowler, you just _have_ to be pullin' that philosophical shit on me, don't you?" she drolled

"You asked and I gave you my answer; it ain't my problem you got a beef with how I do things" he smirked

She thought about it for a moment, and decided she wasn't in the mood to be philosophically outdone, and so changed the subject slightly. "...You really think those girls can turn it around for themselves?"

"Chelsea's learnt her lesson, but Max? ...Well? I ain't folding on that bet just yet; she's a smart kid, sooner or later she'll learn too"

"Really?" his partner asked sarcastically

"Yes, really" he nodded confidently, "And don't think you'll change my mind, I have faith in them"

"Seriously Fowler? That good-boy image may fly in church but out here on the streets it don't mean shit; you gotta go _a real long way_ to find someone who actually cares about kids like Max and Chelsea"

"You're lookin' at one already" he smiled smugly

"Don't bullshit me you know what I mean-" she lightly punched him over the shoulder, "...Kids like them? They don't ever change" she sighed

"...I beg to differ..." Marcus replied as he stood up, and proceeded to head back to his car, "People are changin' all the time, and it ain't for us to choose for them how or why they change; it's just part of life, and we have to go with it... You don't give up on a life just 'cuz it had a bad start, sometimes you just gotta look past the shadow, in order to see the light"

* * *

At the same time, elsewhere:

"Okay, I just got off the phone with the garage: the car's a complete write-off"

"WHAT! Dad are you serious?!" Roxy exclaimed in utter disbelief, "This is all your fault! If you hadn't stashed those cherry bombs under the hood I wouldn't be in this mess!" she ranted at her little sister. Violet sat on the couch with a sour look on her face, clutching her favorite plushy as she shot back: "It's ain't _my _fault you decided to go see your boyfriend today! I thought Chelsea was gonna take the car!"

"Violet, you still shouldn't have done that!" her mother reprimanded, "What if someone had been seriously hurt? Or worse? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Bite me!-" she snapped, "I wasn't in the car in the first place so it ain't my problem!" and with that she marched out of the lounge. "Young lady you come back here right this instant!" he mother called after her, but the seven year old paid no attention as she stormed off up to her room.

"And what (might I ask) were you doing with Cherry bombs in the first place?" she turned her attention to Lizzy, who was now uncomfortably aware she couldn't wiggle out from under her mother's accusing gaze: "You know full well _your banned_ from buying and owning those things!"

"-Ah! But you never said anything about _holding_ some for a friend!" Lizzy was quick to lie, but it didn't fly as her mother's frown only deepened; "You and I both know that's not true," she stated firmly.

"Really? Cuz you know? In some cultures, philosophically speaking the definition of 'truth' is widely considered to be-"

"-SERIOUSLY? DO YOU THINK I WAS BORN YESTERDAY?!" her mother snapped angrily; Lizzy merely stood there, unsure whether to answer that or not. Pinching the bridge of her nose and huffing in exasperation, her mother was in no mood to do this today; "Just-, go to your room! No phone-calls, no internet, no anything! You're grounded for two weeks!"

"WHAT! But dad-"

"You knew the rules and you broke them, now do as your mother says" her father replied sternly, "And _don't even think _of trying to escape out the window again, I nailed it shut while you were out this morning..." he added,

Roxy tried the stifle a chuckle as the thirteen year old stormed off, cursing and ranting under her breath.

"-And _you_ young lady" her father turned his attention to her, "-If you think all this would've made me forget about last night you can think again. What you said was unacceptable! You know full well we don't tolerate that kinda crap in this house, and last night was the last straw!"

"On come on dad!-" Roxy retorted

"-No _you_ come on Roxy!" he shot back, "This bullshit between you two is getting tiring and everyone's has just about enough of your attitude problem!"

"MY ATTITUDE PROBLEM?!" She practically screamed, "-Okay, for one, I _didn't ask_ for the trailer-trash to come and live here! You took that decision all by yourself, you didn't even _ask_ for _my _opinion in the matter! Secondly, Max just tried to blackmail you with _a false rape claim! And your fucking okay with that?!_"

"Of course I'm not okay with it!" he shot back

"Then why didn't you call the cops and have her and her brat sister hauled back to juvi?! Those two have been a pain in our asses since day one and you've hardly had the balls to stand up to them!" she argued back, "For god sake dad their not even real family! Their just some little punk's whose paperwork at family services got mixed up with someone else's and they took advantage and wormed their way in here!"

"Don't palm that bullshit off on me! You _know_ as well as I do they're your cousins; the paternity tests proved it!" he shot back

"Yeah? Well those apples fell far, _far_ _away_ from the tree"

"You know? You keep claiming their not family, but you've hardly been a modal sister and daughter yourself Roxy-" her father frowned, "Your selfish, egotistical, and somehow you have this illusion that life is just gonna roll out the red carpet and let you waltz your way to the top. Well forget it! Life never lives up to anyone's expectations and it's about high time you adjusted your attitude to that young lady!"

Roxy simply rolled her eyes with a factious smile: "Oh yeah? Like your kid brother? What an expectation _he_ turned out to be! You know it ain't my fault he lost his nerve and hanged himself" she shot back coolly.

Her father came at her, as if ready to strike her, but in the same instant he stopped in his tracks: her mother, Jeanie, Allie and Rosy all jumped, alarmed and worried at what would happen next. For the longest moment a terrible uncomfortable silence stretched out as they all stood there in a mix of shock and disbelief; he couldn't believe he just heard what he heard. Roxy merely stood there unfazed, on the outside she gave off a smug contemptuous aura, as though she knew she won this round, but on the inside, she was half wondering if she should've said that at all?

Finally, her father slowly turned his back to her and wandered over to the window; despite the fact his expression was unreadable the emotion and exhaustion in his voice could be heard as he quietly said: "...Just-...Go to your room..."

Roxy was about to argue back, but her mother stopped her before she could make an ass of herself: "_Don't_-..." the tone of her voice told her loud and clear that the discussion was over, "... Just go"

Sensing it was time to leave this be, Jeanie, Allie and Rosy quietly left too, and followed Roxy upstairs. For a long while the house was filled with an uneasy silence as the girls retreated to the sanctuaries of their rooms; Lorie wandered over to the window, and stood next to her husband in equal mental exhaustion. For a long moment they didn't speak, and they didn't need to at first: both of them knew how bad the situation was and neither needed to patronize the other by stating the obvious. But after a while, Lorie knew she had to say it...

"..._We can't keep doing this_..." she sighed bitterly, "...I know you miss him, and I know you blame yourself for what happened...But you _can't keep_ thinking about what might have been Will..."

"...I know..." he replied in equal bitterness, "...I know..."

"We've got to tell them something: they don't know the whole story" Lorie stated, "And while I know it's painful for you to relive the past, you have to consider if it's worth your family's future"

"Don't you think I know that? But even if I _could_ talk about it they won't listen; not to me, not to you, not to _anyone_" he sighed, "...We've long since gone past the point of talking and listening, and I can't for the life of me figure out what to do"

She gently held his hand, and gazed up into his eyes with a sympathetic but honest look: "We try we fail, we try we fail; the only real failure is if we stop trying" she stated softly

"... So we keep trying?" he couldn't help but smirk

She gently placed a kiss on his lips, "Nothing is ever as bad as it seems: we'll all sit down together, and we'll talk this through until we've reached a resolution, at this point it's the best option we have..." she smiled: but pulled away from him as she suddenly remembered "Oh my god, I nearly forgot about Chelsea"

"She said she was going out to look for her, she's been gone all day" he suddenly realized; knowing full well what they had to do Lorie went to fetch her car keys. "Do you want to drive or shall I?" she asked

"Uh? You can take the wheel if you want" he replied, and suddenly spotted Jeanie heading towards the kitchen. "Jeanie, go fetch your sisters, we're going to look for Max and Chelsea"

* * *

At the same time, elsewhere:

**: Oh my Primus! This place is incredible! :** Tangostar smiled through her comm as she kept pace with her sisters.

**: Incredible? It's fraggin' amazing! I mean, did you see that 'mall' back there? I don't what's inside but it looked fun! :** Veebee beamed

**: And that **_**body shop**_** on the corner of that intersection, did you see those **_**rims**_**? Oh my Primus those were sweet! :** Firefly practically bounced up and down on her suspension.

**: Yep, this planet definitely has a lot to offer: **Bluebird concurred cheerfully.

To say that the last several hours had been anything but boring: was a total understatement. Since they arrived in Tranquility the four sisters had been driving around just about everywhere in the city; taking in all the sights, sounds: and the humans. They amazed the newcomers to no end: their individuality, their mannerisms and quirky little habits, everything about them was both fascinating and engaging, so much so that once or twice Veebee and Firefly nearly broke their cover just to go up and say hi to them.

Tranquility was indeed a great place, and were there no limits on time or energy, they could've kept going forever and still not be bored. But alas, the day was waning on and nightfall was several hours away, and if there's one thing an Autobot scout could always count on, it was that Decepticons had a real inclination for the dark.

**: ...But, we should start scouting for a suitable place to recharge for the night: **

**: What? But the sun's still up! : **Firefly protested

**: Yeah, and I still want to check out what that mall was all about!" **Veebee concurred

**: We can do that tomorrow, but right now we gotta find somewhere safe and hidden; for all we know Starscream might hanging around up in orbit scanning for us: **Bluebird pointed out

**: Ah let him come down! I can take him on easily! : **Firefly scoffed

**: He's the leader of the Seeker Armada! He out-classes you three fold! That and he's Megatron's right-hand con, he didn't get to that position through brown-nosing and sucking up alone you know? :** Bluebird shot back

**: Whatever...:** Firefly proverbially waved off before something else suddenly came to mind,:** Hey! Can I scout ahead this time please-please-pleeeeease? : **

**: Hmmm? Well? Maybe just this once, since-: **

**:-Okaythanksbye!: **Firefly took off in front of Bluebird and shot down a narrow alleyway.

The three elder sisters took off after her. **: Hey wait! I didn't say you could-: **but found their way was barred as a huge truck backed into the loading bay of one of the buildings, cutting off the road in front of them.

**: Firefly! Don't go too-...: **Bluebird suddenly paused when all she could hear was static, **: ...Great, she's flipped her comm to stealth-mode:** she deadpanned.

**: Well she can't have gone too far, let's backtrack and find another way:** Tangostar recommended, and without another word the three sisters backed out of the ally, split up, and went around the block in various directions, trying to pick up their little sister's signal.

**: This is all I need:** Bluebird sighed in mild annoyance

**: Chill sis we got this covered; besides, we didn't pick up any cons around here, up in orbit or otherwise, she'll be fine; she'll probably get lost and we'll have to come and find her (as usual):** Veebee reassured her, **:Come on, how bad could it be?: **

* * *

Half an hour later:

**: Still no luck? :** Ironhide asked Bumblebee as he and Sam pulled up to the curb and parked behind the weapons expert. **: We got squat:** the yellow scout sighed.

**: We must've searched the whole city by now?:** Jazz sighed over the comm

**: These scouts must be quite proficiently trained if we've not been able to find them:** Ironhide said offhand,

"And with Barricade having left false energon trails all over town there's no way to tell which is his and which is theirs...: Darren said offhand as he studied the data Trailbreaker was feeding into his CTG, "...However, there has been comm activity dropping in and out over the last several hours, but it's at such a low frequency that it's hard to make out against all the background radio-signals and ambient electronic frequencies from every other device and vehicle in this city"

"We've checked out downtown and all the surrounding districts, but we haven't tried the bad end of town yet?" Sam suggested

**: The 'bad end' of town? :** Prime echoed in curiosity.

"Yeah, the red light district just west of little China town and little Italy: there's a whole bunch of condemned warehouses around that area, they could be hiding in there if their looking for somewhere to hunker down for the night" Witwicky replied as he studied the holographic GPS map of said area on his CTG.

**: Makes sense: that's where I'd go if I wanted somewhere I know I'm not gonna be disturbed:** Bumblebee concurred

**: Very well, Ironhide, Major Lennox, Trailbreaker, Darren, Bumblebee and Sam, you're with me: the rest of you proceed on your current course: **Prime stated

**:Yes sir: **all the other bots replied, and everyone drove off to their destinations.

**: Prime, if we're gonna look for them we're gonna have to split up, there're ten warehouses in that district and they cover a good square mile radius. It would be better for us to cover the narrower alleyways and buildings while you guys check out the main sites:** Darren pointed out over his CTG's comm

**: Agreed: split up and engage the location from opposite sides; but sure to exercise caution, Barricade could be hiding there too:** Prime replied

**: Will-do boss bot**: Trailbreaker replied as he pulled away and headed off in the direction of little china town; once at their designated location, Trailbreaker pulled into a secluded alleyway, and let Darren step out before he transformed back into mech-mode. "Okay, let's get to work..." Darren said offhand as he let his guardian take point.

* * *

At the same time, elsewhere:

"Any luck?" Lorie asked as Will as he approached the car; "Nothing, Mr Wong said he hasn't seen her since Tuesday" he replied. "And Mr Lee hasn't seen Max all week, but he _did _say Chelsea was in there this morning asking for her" Jeanie added as she approached with Allie in tow.

"Why are _we_ even here?" Roxy stubbornly asked as she folded her arms

"Because we're looking for your cousins so we finally have a family sit-down" her mother replied.

"Well? If you wanna find them faster we're gonna have to split up" Roxy added

Looking around the street, Will contemplated her suggestion a moment, before asking Lorie: "...What do you think sweetheart?"

"Well? I guess it'll help" she shrugged, "But don't go alone!"She told the girls firmly

"I'll go with Roxy" Allie nervously put her hand up

"I'll go with Jeanie" Rosy stated, "Ditto" Lizzy shrugged

"And Violet, you'll be with us" Lorie told her youngest daughter, "What! No way!" Violet whined

"You're coming with us and that's it! End of discussion!" Lorie wagged her finger at her, "Stay in touch, we'll meet up back here in an hour, if they're not here we'll try the next several blocks over" Lorie called after her girls as they went off in separate directions. As soon as they rounded the corner of the street, Roxy got out her cell-phone and rang up one of her friends on speed-dial: "Hey Amy? Yeah it's me, grab Shelly and Kristy and meet me at Club 43 in half an hour...'kay bye!"

"What're you doing?" Allie demanded

"Going somewhere a little more fun than this" Roxy retorted nonchalantly

"We're supposed to be looking for Max and Chelsea!"

"Like I give a fuck, you go look for them if want, I'm outta here!"

"No! Mom said we gotta look for them!" Allie protested, grabbing her sister's arm and trying to pull her back; but Roxy wouldn't have any of it, and as the two of them argued, Allie suddenly stopped, "-Hey wait...Is that, Darren?"

Following her gaze, Roxy spotted a boy standing in an alleyway across the street that did look like her cousin; "It _is_ him" she realized.

"But-...W-what's _that?_" Allie pointed to the huge shadow looming over him; whatever was casting it was just around the corner of the alley: but whatever it was, it was _big_. Glancing at one another in confusion, the girls crossed the street and proceeded to follow Darren as he disappeared around the corner, heading further into the alleyway.

* * *

"Trailbreaker, check this out" Darren pointed to the ground as his CTG's scanner beeped.

"Energon"

"Question is, is it Barricade's or the new arrivals?"

"Can't be certain unless we follow it..." Trailbreaker pondered aloud before transforming back into his alt-mode, "...Get in, if anything _does_ happen we'll need to get away fast"

"Copy that bud" the teenage hacker nodded in agreement as he got in.

At the other end of the alleyway, Roxy and Allie both carefully peered around the corner, and watched as the Black Lincoln MKS steadily rolled along with Darren sitting in the passenger's seat.

"...Oh my god, if he's sitting in the passenger seat, who's driving the car?" Allie whispered in alarm; glancing at one another, the sisters proceeded to follow the strange vehicle, making sure they stayed far enough behind so they weren't spotted.

* * *

At the same time, a few blocks away:

"Well thanks a bunch sis! Now we're lost!" Rosy huffed as she looked up and down the intersecting alleyways.

"I was _sure_ it was the third right turn at the stop sign?" Jeanie thought aloud as she tried to mentally back-track the route they'd just taken, "Or was it the second left?"

"Does it matter? We're lost!" Lizzy fumed

"Yes it matters! One of Max's hangout's is somewhere down here, I'm sure of it, Chelsea told me she goes there when she needs a place to crash for the night" Jeanie replied

"You mean that crack-house that's full of pervs, crack-heads and hoochy mama's? Oh yeah it'll be a riot trying to fish her out from that!" Rosy sarcastically huffed.

As three sisters continued to argue; they failed to notice the police cruiser following them some twenty or so meters away...

... The one that didn't have a driver in the front seat...

* * *

Elsewhere:

"Wait? Didn't I come this way already?" Firefly said offhand as she noticed an old and tatty Slipknot poster on a nearby wall, "I _did_ pass this place! GHAAA! I am so fraggin' lost!" she vented angrily, "-And on top of that my comm's stealth-mode is stuck on auto again!"

Sinking down on her tires, she vented some more for a few minutes before her thoughts turned to her sisters; "They don't even know I'm here..." she realized, but then thought: "Wait a minute, I lost them? ...Slaggin' sweet! Guess it's a night out on the town for this party-femme!" she grinned inwardly, "Now? Which route will take me back to that body shop?"

But before she had a chance to think, the sound of footsteps suddenly got her attention; switching off her engine and turning off her lights, Firefly sat motionlessly as two young humans appeared from around the corner. Both of them had a couple of hoodies pulled over their heads, with bandanas tied over their noses and mouths, one of them was carrying a curved narrow piece of metal (a crowbar: according to the internet) and the other was carrying a small rolled-up tool pouch. Firefly began to grow a little uncomfortable as they approached her, something about these humans seemed, 'off' somehow, and as they eyed her up and down, she got the distinct impression they were up to no good.

"What'd you think?" the male spoke

"Probably two grand, maybe more if we can fix the pedometer" the female replied

"Think there's any cash in the glove box?"

"Let's see..." the female replied as she got out her tools and started picking the lock on the driver's-side door.

Firefly began to panic, what were these humans doing? But before she could do anything the female had managed to pry open her door and climbed into her front passenger seat; she couldn't transform, she'd crush her instantly (and the thought of all those mashed up organic parts and fluids getting stuck in her joins made her cringe with disgust). Wracking her processor for a way out, she suddenly got an idea. As the human male got into her driver's seat, she revved up her engine and jolted forward sharply so that both their heads knocked against the dashboard and steering wheel.

"What the-" but before the male had a chance to try and work out what just happened, Firefly engaged the springs under her driver's seat and promptly ejected the human out, sending flying into a pile garbage on the other side of the alleyway and knocking him out cold.

'Yes! Now your turn!' the young femme thought as she turned her attention to the now shocked human female, but just as she was about to unlock her passenger door and toss her out, another human female came running around the corner, stopped in front of her hood, and seemed to recognize who was sitting inside her...

"I knew it!" she exclaimed angrily as she strode over and got into her driver's seat; "How the hell can you be _so stupid?!_ Do you even realize this is a one way ticket back to Juvi?!" she ranted

"Chelsea! Not now!"

"Oh no, right now you're coming home with me and I ain't taking no for an answer! Jesus you are in so much trouble Max! If Uncle Will and Aunt Lorie even knew you were here-"

"Yeah well the Brady bunch don't know shit what I get up to!"

As the two female continued to argue, Firefly got the distinct impression that what happened only several seconds ago, had now been forgotten. 'Fine, you two wanna car-jack me? Let's see what you're both made off...' she thought as she engaged her seat-belts, strapping them tightly into the seats.

"What the fuck?!" the girls exclaimed before the engine revved up and the car took off at a dangerously fast speed, cutting through the alleyways to who knows where, with both passengers screaming and arguing with each other at the top of their lungs.

* * *

At the same time, elsewhere:

"Well? This certainly seems like a good place to recharge" Tangostar thought aloud through her altmode's sound speakers as she scanned the old warehouse,

"Yeah, this whole site seems to be the only place in the whole city without a human for over a mile around" Veebee concurred

"We still need to look for Firefly, her comm's stealth-mode must be stuck on auto again" Bluebird pointed out

"But where? She could be anywhere in the city" Veebee replied

"Come on, you know how her navigation systems are always the last to be updated, she never checks her systems as often as she should" Bluebird sighed, "She's probably going around in circles as usual, which means she can't be that far from where we last saw her"

"Okay, but perhaps it couldn't hurt to-..."

"What is it sis?" Veebee asked

"Check it out..." she rolled forward a little, gesturing to the three vehicles that were slowly approaching the warehouse; upon scanning them, the sister saw they were cybertronians.

"Who are they? Cons or bots?" Veebee asked

"Better not risk it, quickly! Hide!" Bluebird ordered, and the sisters quietly rolled into the warehouse, navigating the maze of old machinery until they were far enough in that no one had a clear line of sight from the main doors.

"Think they know we're here?" Tangostar whispered

"...I don't know" was all Bluebird found she could offer.

* * *

At the same time:

"This is the warehouse: but are they here?" Darren thought aloud

"Hard to tell, I can't see Prime and the others" Trailbreaker replied

"They must be on the other side, turn right and follow the line of buildings, that way if Barricade is here, we can cut off his escape route" Darren reasoned, and the black bot rolled on, keeping his sensors primed for anything suspicious.

Thirty meters behind, Roxy and Allie watched as the Ford Lincoln turned right and went around the perimeter of an old rundown warehouse, waiting until it was some distance away; they cautiously tip-toed on and peered around the corner, seeing it was now further way.

"Hello"

Both sisters nearly jumped out of their skins as they spun around and saw their youngest sibling standing there behind them.

"Jesus Violet! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Roxy reprimanded

"Wat'cha doin'?" she asked nonchalantly

"We're- ..." Roxy tried to sum it up into words, but realized that trying to explain that they were stalking their cousin who's currently in a car with no driver would be harder to explain to a seven year old that first thought, "-It's complicated; what the hell are you doing here?! You're supposed to be with mom and dad!"

"I was bored, and dad said we couldn't go for ice cream" she pouted

Realizing her little sister was a few steps away from one of her temper tantrums, Roxy sighed in exasperation and handed Allie her cell-phone: "Call mom, tell her Violet's with us and she's okay..." she then turned her attention back to Violet. "Listen, we're in the middle of something here, so stay on my ass and keep quiet understand, we'll go to dairy queen tomorrow and you can have all the ice cream you want 'till you puke, okay?"

"Okay" Violet nodded

"Now come on..." Roxy gestured for them to follow her; as Allie made her hushed call, she made Violet hold her hand as they proceeded to keep following the black Ford Lincoln.

* * *

At the same time, on another side of the warehouse:

"Oh for fuck's sake! Where the hell are we now?!" Lizzy whined

"Looks like some old factory or something?" Rosy thought aloud as she looked the warehouse up and down.

"Huh, never knew this was here before..." Jeanie said offhand, "Well we can't be _that_ far, my walking pedometer says we only walked five hundred yard" She added as she looked at the little watch-like device on her wrist. Not satisfied, Lizzy continued to whine even more, and as her sister's nerves grew shorter by the minute, they were still oblivious to the strange police cruiser that had been trailing them.

As Barricade carefully pulled out and around the corner, his scanners picked up a familiar Ford Lincoln MKS across the opposite side of the warehouse, and grinned inwardly to himself. His day just got a little more interesting...

* * *

At the same time:

**: Prime! I smell Barricade! : **Ironhide exclaimed,**: Him, and two others closing in: **

**: Transform, and be on your guard...:** Prime ordered; Sam and Lennox quickly got out of their guardians as they transformed and primed their weapons. Prime uncoupled his trailer and activated it to transform into its battle-station mode; he took an energy sword and a stasis shield, and armed himself in readiness.

"You two stay close, this could get dangerous" Prime warned

"Ya don't say?" Sam rolled his eyes as stayed between Bumblebee's feet; Will kept his hand gun ready while he stayed between Prime and Ironhide, keeping pace with the bots as they silently stalked along the wall of the warehouse. Wondering which direction the enemy was going to come from.

* * *

"Slagit slagit slagit! Their right on the other side of the wall! No Autobot carries _those_ kinda of weapons!" Veebee hissed in a panic as her scanner's spotted the huge energy sword and stasis shield being wielded by the even bigger cybertronian on the other side of the wall.

"Okay don't panic don't panic!" Bluebird tried to keep her head on, "Just-, carefully back out towards the opposite side of the building, and try not to make a sound..." she whispered; as the femmes rolled back towards the other side of the building, they suddenly spotted four young human females approaching the warehouse, followed by a police cruiser some distance behind.

"Huh?" Tangostar scanned the vehicle, and almost panicked when she saw it was another cybertronian, "Frag it! There's another one out front!"

"But is it one of theirs, or one of ours?" Bluebird queried

"And is he accompanying them? Or escorting them?" Veebee added with dread, suddenly, the cruiser seemed to stop suddenly, as if something had caught its attention. "...What? Did he scan us or something?"

The girls too stopped too, and changed direction as if something of interest had piqued their curiosity; the cruiser changed direction too, and followed the girls at a wider distance.

"Slag! What the frag do we do?!" Veebee panicked

* * *

"What the hell is that?" Rosy gawked up at the strange thing

"No idea, but it looks like fun!" Lizzy beamed as she eyed the strange device like it was a brand new laptop.

"Is that supposed to be the Stargate or something?" Jeanie raised an eyebrow

"Maybe it's a new series? Ohohohoh! Maybe their holding a promo event right here in town!" Rosy said excitedly

The device itself did indeed look like it had come straight out of a sci-fi show, for it was the strangest thing the girls had ever seen; it was a huge thickly armored ring about thirty five feet tall, with a platform and supportive struts holding it upright, and mounted on the inside were several strange weapon-like devices, as well as what looked like missile launchers protruding from the base. It looked lethal, but amazing at the same time.

"Hey wait!-" Jeanie tried to stop Lizzy as she made a dash for the structure and climbed up onto the platform, "Hey! This thing's got a pyro-control panel!" Lizzy called down as she looked over the strange control panel at the side of the ring, "Wonder what kinda firework's this things loaded with?" she thought aloud as she proceeded to push a button. "Stop right there!-" Jeanie smacked her hand away at the last second, "Remember the last time you played with fireworks? You caused over twenty grand's worth of damage to the school's basketball court!"

"Pft! A little one off that ran away from me!" Lizzy waved her off, "Don't worry I know how to handle fireworks! Seriously, you worry too much sis"

As the two siblings continued to bicker, Rosy climbed up to get a better look; "Wow, great view" she thought aloud.

But she failed to notice the police cruiser twenty meters away, now flanked by two other black vehicles...

* * *

"Prepare yourselves, their just on the other side of the building" Prime warned everyone in a hushed tone

"Uh? Guys? We got a serious problem..." Sam pointed to three other black cars that had quietly rolled out of the nearby alleyways.

"Shit! There are five of them?" Will cursed: "They got us flanked!"

Studying them carefully, Prime suddenly realized: "...The right flank is wide open, it's not us their trying to corner..."

"What? But then who-" Sam suddenly stopped as he put two and two together, "-The newcomers! They must be in the warehouse! They're trying to block off their escape route!"

"The main entrance to building must be just around the corner!" Bumblebee realized

"In that case split up and stagger your moves, you two hang back and try to find some cover" Prime ordered and Sam and Will quietly made their way to one of the other alleyways.

But unfortunately (and out of their line of sight), the Autobots had failed to noticed that the cons were actually lining up to strike in the opposite direction; the one direction where Prime's battle-trailer was parked, and was now the subject Barricade's interest...

* * *

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Roxy called up as she, Allie and Violet approached the strange platform.

"I could say the same about you" Jeanie replied, "What are you doing here?"

"We spotted Darren go down here, but we lost him" Allie replied

"Darren?" Rosy raised an eyebrow, "What's he doing here?"

"Dunno, but he's been driving around in a ghost car that drives all by itself" Violet replied as she climbed up the side of the platform and started bickering with Lizzy over who gets to push the buttons on the control panel. Trying to figure out what she meant by that, Jeanie suddenly spotted the police cruiser, "Oh hell! This thing's got security detail!" she realized. Spotting said cruiser, the girls instantly climbed off and called out their apologies as the car slowly nudged towards them.

"So sorry! We didn't know this thing was off-limits!-" Jeanie called over to the car, but suddenly stopped when she noticed the driver's seat.

"Uh? ...Girls? There's no driver"

"No driver? What do you mean?-" Lizzy stopped in her tracks as she too noticed the lack of a driver in the front seat.

"Uh? What's going on?" Rosy asked in mild concern

* * *

"SLAG! We're completely surrounded! How the frag do we get outta this one?!" Veebee cursed

"Okay, I have an idea, it's a long shot, but if we time it right it might just work; all we gotta do, is-"

The screeching of tires and the screams of two human females fast approaching suddenly interrupted Bluebird, as Firefly came flying out of one of the alleyways opposite the warehouse, streaked across the open parking lot and turned the corner around the side of the building.

"Was that-, Firefly?" Tangostar raised a proverbial optic ridge

* * *

Suddenly, a bright green VW 2000 came drifting around the corner, swung its doors open and threw out two girls onto the ground, they tumbled and rolled until they hit the base of the giant ring, and were stunned to see who was standing over them.

"Max?" Lizzy gasped

"Chelsea?" Jeanie blinked in surprise

But before the girls could say or do anything else, the VW 2000 suddenly folded in on itself and every single part seemed to rearrange itself until a thirteen foot robot was standing before them; "Oh yeah! How'd you like _that _for car-jacking!" it grinned down at the girls, who simply gawked up at it in complete and utter shock.

The next several minutes went completely ape-shit.

All at once the police cruiser broke apart and transformed into another bigger robot, and tackled the green robot before it knew what had happened; another four black cars nearby transformed into robots and came after the green one, but another three VW 2000's came screeching around the corner, and they transformed into three other robots too! And as if that was enough, three much bigger robots armed to the teeth with all kinds of weaponry joined in the fight, until the alleyway was one big super-sized robot free-for-all.

Not stopping to ask questions, the girls made a mad dash to hide under the platform of the strange device, all but Max and Lizzy peer over the top to watch the brawl as metal went flying, giant fists pounded one another, and the smaller green robot was going at the bigger sinister robot with all it had.

"Get down you idiots!" Roxy shouted

"No way! This is so fuckin' awesome!" Lizzy called over the loud din of the battle; noticing the control panel, she carefully crawled her way over, and looked at the array of buttons. "Wonder if I can take down the big bad-ass over there?" she pondered aloud as she pressed a yellow button, and suddenly a missile shot out from the base of the platform and blew up a corner of the warehouse: "SWEET!" she pumped her fists in the air, "What else can this thing do?", "Move over!" Max pushed her to one side and fired another missile, "-NO FAIR! I was here first!" Lizzy shoved her back, and as the two girls started to fight they were unaware that their hands and elbows kept hitting all the buttons. Within seconds a whole range of missiles, laser-beams, mortar rounds, ion plasma rounds and bullets were shooting out in all directions, demolishing the warehouse and some of the other buildings opposite, all the while the girls were completely oblivious as they bickered and fought over the console.

Not stopping to see why the device was randomly firing all its weaponry, the robots all made a mad dash for cover around the other side of the warehouse, where they continued to fight.

* * *

On the opposite side of the warehouse:

"What the hell's going on over there?!" Darren exclaimed in a panic as Trailbreaker narrowly avoided getting hit another mortar round.

"They must've run into the cons!" Trailbreaker replied as he pulled up into one of the alleyways, tossed Darren out and transformed; "Find some cover, I gotta go-"

"Then go already!" Darren barked, and the bot took off, priming his shoulder cannon as he ran around the side of the building.

"DARREN!" Sam called over as he and Will came running up, "Thank god your okay man!" he sighed with relief.

"I'm fine but what the hell just happened?"

"Cons: Barricade and four others, they ran into the newcomers and Prime and now they're having it out with each other on the other side of the warehouse" Will explained as he tried to catch his breath

"We ran before we saw what happened, but I think the battle-station's glitched or something?"

"Ya think?" Darren blinked in surprise, "We gotta get to that station and shut if off before it demolishes half the city!"

"Agreed, come on, from this side we can avoid the fight and get to it from behind" Will stated as he led the way

* * *

Back on the battle-station, Lizzy and Max continued to fight hard as they slammed each other into the console. With one hard punch Lizzy sent Max tumbling backwards over the edge of the platform, where she landed next to the underside of the missile launchers. As she got back up, Lizzy jumped down onto her back, all the while swearing and cursing every profanity she could think of. Chelsea tried to push her off, to which Roxy tried to punch her, to which Jeanie tried to knock her down, to which Violet tried to tackle her leg, and within seconds the girls were all heaped together as they were punching, shoving, tackling and trying to pull one another off each other: all the while forgetting that a giant robot death-match was going down just on the other side of the platform right above their heads.

* * *

"You gotta admit, she's got real spunk" Bumblebee commented

"Spunk, yes, experience? Definitely not" Ironhide grumbled as he watched Firefly try to fight off the other cons, and without much success as said con was holding her out of arms reach by the base of her neck plates while she hung there trying to punch and kick him. Ironhide rolled his optics, fired his cannons, and killed the con dead on the spot; "What'd you do that for?! I had him right where I wanted him!" Firefly angrily exclaimed as she picked herself up.

"Sure you did..." the weapons expert drolled, _'_One of _those_ Rookies, great' he mentally sighed in exasperation.

At that moment Barricade came flying around the corner, half beaten up and with Optimus Prime right on his tail; "Decepticons! Retreat!" he barked, and the three remaining cons followed him close behind as they transformed and dashed back into the alleyways. Prime came to a halt and watched as they disappeared into the oncoming shadows of the evening; "...Another day Barricade..." he mused to himself as he sheathed his sword and disengaged his stasis shield, and then turned his attention back to the four femme sisters; who were still running on high from the victory of the fight.

As he approached them, he sent out a signal for his battle-station to transform back into its trailer mode.

* * *

"You little bitch! You-"

CLANG WHIRRRRR CLK-CLK-CLK-CLK

The girls suddenly stopped fighting as the device started to emit weird sounds and vibrations.

"Uh? What the hell was that?" Chelsea asked hand.

Suddenly, the ring and the platform began breaking apart and reassembling into something else, but as they tried to scramble to their feet part of the platform scooped them up like eggs in a frying pan; the girls screamed as the strange structure folded inwards and trapped them into part of it structure, and once the transformation was complete, the metal paneling was so thickly layered that their pounding and hitting on the sides couldn't even be heard...

* * *

"So, we're really sorry about all this, we honestly thought you guys were cons!" Bluebird professed

"No apologizes needed, but you needn't worry about not applying your scanners; you were right to assume that there might have been scanner-detectors present: it was a good judgement call under the circumstances" Prime assured her

"And besides, after that beatdown Barricade's not going to be so eager to reengage any time soon" Bumblebee added

"So?" Tangostar gazed down Will, Darren and Sam, "You guys are ambassadors huh?"

As the humans and bots continued to chat, Prime transformed into his altmode and linked back up to his trailer. "Autobots, transform and roll out...**Autobots, we have the new arrivals and are returning to base: **

And with that, the new arrivals and their hosts drove on out of the city, and headed west towards the desert.

* * *

**Wow, I am so glad I drafted this, it was so fast-paced that I wouldn't have been able to keep up; I might have had an aneurism or something? But in any case, this was fun to write! :D**

**And in case your wondering: the femmes? Greenhorns yes: the sisters and cousins? ...Yeah, pretty much XD**

**Please let me know what you think, night-night dearies! **


	5. Chpt 4: First Impressions

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

* * *

LEMONS & CHERRIES

Chapter 4: First Impressions

"HELLLLOOOO! I KNOW YOU CAN HERE ME OUT THERE! SO STOP THIS-, WHATEVER IT IS, AND GET YOU'RE ASS-"

"ROXY! GIVE IT A REST ALREADY!-" Jeanie shouted at the top of her voice, "We've been in here for over two hours! _I think_ if they heard us they would've let us out by now!" she reprimanded harshly; huffing in annoyance, Roxy threw up her arms and sat down next to Allie.

After fighting for the better part of an hour over whose fault it was for their current predicament, the girls reluctantly agreed to call a temporary truce (mostly because they were too tired and had run out of profanities to curse with) so as to try to find a way out of this strange device. From the rhythm of the vibrations it was clear this thing had been loaded or coupled to a vehicle of some kind, and right now, wherever they were going was the new subject of debate among the sisters and cousins. But suffice to say it wasn't an easy journey, as the weapons and blades that had been attached to the 'ring' before, were now folded up and pointing dangerously in the girls general direction; they'd managed to squeeze together into a small area of free space near the (presumed) front of the interior, but as the bouncing and rocking motion of the device kept loosening their footing, it was starting to get to the point where trying to glare each other to death was no longer a main priority (though not for lack of trying).

"Well what the hell do _you_ recommend we do genius?" Roxy sarcastically shot back

"I don't know," Jeanie sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "But screaming our heads off ain't gonna work!"

"Speaking of which, how the hell did _you_ guys get inside that green robot-car?" Lizzy shot Max and Chelsea a skeptical look

Max was about to reply but Chelsea beat her too it, "She thought it was a regular car and tried to jack it"

"What?!" Jeanie gasped

"Are you serious?!" Allie exclaimed

"Like it's any of _your _business-" Max shot back in a facetious tone, to which Chelsea smacked upside the back of her head. "_It is_ my business when my sister is trying to get herself thrown back into juvi!" she angrily stated, "Seriously Max? What the fuck were you thinking?!"

"How to make a tidy profit selling the damn thing" Max stated flatly, "Honestly! How the hell was I supposed to know it was a fucking robot?!"

Chelsea smacked her again, "That's totally beside the point! What if you'd been caught?!"

"Not a smart move Max, really" Jeanie shook her head disapprovingly

"_Oh you think?!_" Roxy frowned, "Let the police catch her, ain't our fault she's a dumb-ass crook"

"Seriously: _not helping!_" Jeanie shot back. Max didn't reply, and simply sat there staring up at Roxy with a smug, almost mocking look; sensing her intention, Chelsea shuffled forward so she was directly in between the two girls, thus blocking their line of sight to each other. Changing the subject, she gazed over at Jeanie: "...You said your pedometer had an inbuilt compass, any ideas as to where we might be going?"

Jeanie looked down at said device on her wrist, and frowned in confusion: "Thus far we've mostly been heading north-west; but? The only thing north west of Tranquility for over two hours is the highway and desert, there's not much else"

Rosy was about to say something when suddenly, everything steadily came to a halt, "... We've stopped?"

"But where?" Violet asked

"No idea..." Jeanie replied, a little unnerved as to what was going on outside; after a few more seconds, they went off again, but this time at a slower speed. A series of loud bumps and clunks indicated they had driven over several one-way speed bumps, before steadily descending downwards. A couple of minutes later, they took a sharp turn right, turned left, stopped, and then reversed before finally coming to a stop with a sharp jolt.

"...I think we've stopped..." Allie whispered nervously

"Shh! Listen..." Chelsea pointed to one of the walls; muffled voices could be heard, some near, some at a distance. They faded as they seemed to walk away, until there was nothing but silence.

"Think they're still there?" Lizzy asked offhand

"Don't know and I don't care: I just wanna get outta here" Max sighed as she grabbed her tool pouch, and crawled her way under the various weaponry towards the doors at the far end of the interior.

* * *

A few minutes later:

"So, we headed towards the Farr-Noxx cluster, headed out towards the asteroid belt beyond that, spotted Jupiter and basically made a straight line for this system" Bluebird finished explaining as she and her sisters followed Optimus, heading up to the base's control center.

"And you didn't come across anyone else on your journey?" Ironhide asked

"Not that we saw: but then, this _is _a pretty remote part of the galaxy, Primus I don't think even the Primes made it _this_ far across the universe? It's like trying to find a bolt in a slag heap" the blue femme replied offhand.

"Well, you're here now, and that's all that matters" Prime nodded, "You will first be sent to the med-bay for decontamination, then you'll be debriefed on our current status and operations and assigned your security clearance; after that you'll be allotted your recharge quarters, and then assigned a duty roster" he informed them. "If you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to come to either me or my Second in Command, Prowl"

As they strolled on by, the other bots all took the opportunity to eye up the newcomers.

"Femmes bro! We got us some more honies up in 'dis joint!" Mudflap elbowed his twin brother, "And 'dis time we got's plenty to go around" Skids grinned with glee as rung his hands in eagerness.

"The pink ones kinda cute, what'd you think?" Sideswipe grinned up at his brother,

"Eh, she's okay I guess?"

"You guess?! Come on Sunny she's _totally _working those hip plates! She's practically _begging_ for you to come over and ask for her VIN number!" Sideswipe exclaimed

"Hey, there's a fine line between being a stud and a pervert, and she's way too young for my taste" Sunstreaker frowned as he folded his arms

"WHA?! But she looks-" Sideswipe looked Veebee up and down, completely dumbfounded: "...Slag"

Arcee glanced over at the mechs and rolled her optics with an exasperated sigh: "Besides whipping the twin's afts for solicitation, it'll be nice having more female company on the base" she smiled. "It'll certainly make the femme-to-mech ratio a bit more interesting" Portia thought aloud, "Not to mention it'll help keep them on their peds (among other things)" Elita smiled with a sly wink; to which the femmes all giggled in delight.

A little way down the corridor, inside the security center: Red Alert, Inferno, Wheeljack, Brawn and Perceptor were busy tinkering with the security system grid, while Darren and Sam chatted with Tom and Morri on top of the central computer terminal with their respective guardians listening in.

"I'm telling you the damn thing went nuts! We were drifting between mortar and missile rounds while Prime and 'Hide went to town on the cons afts!" Darren explained exuberantly as he relayed the events of this evening.

"And even after_ that_, Barricade managed to get away" Trailbreaker huffed in disappointment, "Still: at least we showed him we're not out of shape eh?"

"He certainly took off fast enough" Darren snorted, "At least no one was hurt"

"Not _yet_, after demolishing half that warehouse you can bet Galloway's gonna be calling up to chew our asses off" Sam winced

"Ah Sheesh-" Darren facepalmed, "That's gonna be fun" he sighed sarcastically

"So? Did you find out what made the battle-station go ape-shit?" Tom asked

"Well afterwards we looked it over but we couldn't see anything out of the ordinary; we're gonna run a diagnostics test tomorrow to be sure, but offhand, I don't know what the hell happened?" Darren scratched his head, "...There was one point, during in the fight I looked over at the station and _I could've sworn_ I saw someone standing near the platform; but when I looked back no one was there"

"Weird" Sam raised an eyebrow

"Strange, I thought I heard voices coming from the battle-station at one point?" Bumblebee added

The friends all glanced at one another quizzically.

"Well? Whatever happened, it could've been worse" Tom shrugged

"Yeah I guess?" Darren replied offhand

"Hey, we're ready to start, get your tools ready" Inferno interrupted

"Right," Sam shook himself from his musings and got to work with the others.

**: Attention all Autobots and NEST personnel, there will be a ten minute power-down of the second level and all adjoining sectors for routine maintenance work: please be advised all security systems will be shutting down, so stay sharp and be on your guard:** Red Alert announced on the base-wide intercom. **: Stand by...: **

* * *

Several minutes later: back down in the second level central hanger:

"Got it yet?" Chelsea asked anxiously

"Almost..." Max huffed as she picked the lock on the door; finally, the lock's inner mechanism clicked and the latch came undone. Placing her tools back into their pouch and stuffing it into her back pocket: Max gently pushed the door open and cautiously peered out.

"What'd you see?" Jeanie asked

Waiting and listening for any sign of life, the absolute silence and dimmed lights told her no one was around, and so Max stuck her head out a little further to get a better look. But Roxy and Lizzy didn't want to wait, and so pushed her aside to get a look for themselves.

"Shit, what the hell is this place?" Lizzy raised a curious eyebrow.

The place in question was huge: a gigantic underground hanger of some kind packed with rows of large heavily armored assault vehicles, quad-bikes, army jeeps and hummers with machine guns mounted on the rear, dozens of Abrahams tanks, and several other vehicles who's makes and models they couldn't identify. Jumping down to the floor one by one, the girls gazed around in astonishment, and then noticed the device that had entrapped them earlier, was now a truck trailer.

"Holy crap! That thing turned into a trailer?!" Lizzy gasped in amazement

"Whoa, that could've hooked up to something like a Peterbuilt and no one would be none the wiser" Jeanie breathed

"Smart" Chelsea nodded in agreement

"What _is_ this place?" Rosy thought aloud

"Looks like some kinda, army base or something?" Chelsea replied

"Maybe we should go find someone and ask where the exit is?" Allie offered sheepishly

"What?! Are you nuts?! If this is an army base we'll all be thrown in jail for sure!" Roxy hissed

"Could be interesting to see where they keep their big guns?" Lizzy suggested with a sly grin

"Don't be stupid! We can't-..." Jeanie stopped her retort as the sound of distant voices and footsteps approached, "Someone's coming!"

Without arguing (for once) the girls quickly dashed behind one of the tanks and ducked down as a couple of armed guards casually strolled by, oblivious to their presence. Carefully peering around the tank's treads, Max noticed the black uniforms, as well as the lack of any other form of identification; except for the patches on they're arms. 'N-E-S-T?' she thought with a perplexed frown as she read the insignias, 'What the hell's a N-E-S-T?'

"Listen, we gotta try and find a way outta here!" Rosy whispered as softly as she could, "If the rest of this base is as big as this hanger, no one might spot us?"

"If this _is_ a military facility there'll be cameras everywhere!" Jeanie shot back in an equally soft whisper

"I could hot-wire one of the trucks and bust our way outta here?" Max suggested, but Chelsea was quick to smack her over the head again, "No! _We are not stealing anything! _Especially not from the military!" she reprimanded

"Hey! Here's an idea! Why don't you two turn yourselves in and _we'll_ escape okay?" Roxy suggested in a mockingly sweet tone.

"We're not splitting up! If we're gonna get outta here, we'll get outta here _together!_" Jeanie stated forcefully: "Understand? No one's getting left behind"

Then, the lights in the walls ceiling slowly started to grow brighter.

"Quickly! Let's go!" Jeanie ordered as she took off in between the rows of vehicles, heading towards the (presumed) entrance to the hanger; unsure but having no time to argue, the others followed and together they went up the spiraling ramp until they came to a giant tunnel the size of a four-lane high way. The huge structure stretched on for what seemed like forever in both directions, and at either end, the distant echoes of activity could be heard reverberating off the concrete walls.

"This must be the road we came down" Jeanie observed, as she noticed the road inclined gently upwards on one side, and continued downwards on the other.

"So that way must be the exit" Chelsea pointed to the upward incline.

"Yeah, if we-" Jeanie was about to throw in an escape theory, when she glanced over her shoulder and saw Lizzy running off in the opposite direction; "What?! Lizzy get back here!" Jeanie cursed as she started running after her. The others too started chasing her, but the pre-teen only ran faster: "You little shit! We need to get outta here!" Roxy hissed angrily.

"What? And miss a once in a lifetime opportunity to explore a military base?! Never!" Lizzy declared boldly

"Lizzy I wanna go home!" Violet protested as she tried to keep up.

"Yeah? Well too bad twip! I ain't leaving 'till I find out where they stash their weapons!" Lizzy called back over her shoulder.

Frustrated, the girls stayed on her tail as she turned down another ramp, and ran into a another huge hanger of some kind, but this one had dozens of big double doors lining its walls, and several tall corridors that led off in different directions. As Lizzy put another several meters between her and her sisters/cousins, the girls had to quickly divert and hide down one of the corridors as the sound of footsteps drew nearer, while their pre-teen brat sister continued to run completely oblivious to what was going on. Realizing that their way back was barred by whoever was approaching: fear and anxiety began to rise as their list of options grew shorter and shorter with each footfall.

"Ohmygod! Whatdowedowhatdowedowhatdowedo?!" Rosy panicked as she bounced up and down on her heels, clasping her hangs to her face.

Looking around desperately, Allie spotted an elevator a little way down the corridor: "Hey! We can hide in there!" The girls made a beeline for the giant double doors, and upon pressing the button, they dived in as soon as the doors opened and closed. Breathing a sigh of relief, they took a moment to steady their nerves, and then noticed the elevator wasn't a normal one.

"Whoa, this is one _big_ elevator" Rosy said offhand as she glanced up at the tall walls and wide space.

"Must be used for transporting those trucks up and down between other hangers" Jeanie replied as she glanced at the buttons on the panel, "Going up" she smirked as she pressed the button for the top floor; but as the elevator started to move, they realized something wasn't right...

"We're going down? We're supposed to be going up!" Roxy exclaimed in a panic, "You pressed the wrong button genius!" Rosy reprimanded

"I _pressed_ the button for the top floor! Someone on one of the lower levels must've pressed another button first!" Jeanie shot back

"Great..." Max huffed in agitation as she folded her arms and leaned against the wall.

* * *

Back up on the second level:

"How's it lookin' from up there?" Epps said into his walky-talky as he waved at the newly on-lined security camera

: Great! The resolution and signal's coming through way better than before: Sam replied on the other end

"Okay, see you guys back up there...: Epps replied as he backtracked to the main entrance; as he passed the row of Prime's battle trailers, he noticed the one on the far end had one of its doors open; looking around and seeing that no one else was down here, he curiosity began to pique a little. "Uh Sam? What happened to the maintenance crew?" he asked over the radio.

: Maintenance crew? : Sam asked

"The one detailing Prime's trailer"

"Huh? We don't have any maintenance on Prime's trailer scheduled 'till tomorrow morning; no one should be down there" Sam replied dubiously

With a knot immediately beginning to tie up in his gut, Epps warily stepped over to the open trailer with one hand placed firmly on his handgun. As he carefully peeked inside, his eyes flew wide open as he spotted the numerous footprints scattered about the floor; footprints that hadn't been made by standard army boots.

"Oh SHIT!-" he hissed as he dashed the nearest wall, and slammed on the emergency button; all at once loud bellowing klaxons came to life and red warning lights flashed throughout the hanger as he slammed on the intercom and hollered, **: CODE RED! CODE RED! THERE ARE INTRUDERS ON THE BASE! REPEAT! INTRUDERS ON THE BASE! ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO YOUR STATIONS AND STAND BY FOR ORDERS! :**

All at once, the whole base was alive with the sound of giant stomping metal feet and orders being barked back and forth as everyone armed themselves; the security center buzzed with action as the Autobots, interns and other human techs tried to locate the intruders.

"Alright! The decepti-creeps came back for round two!" Firefly hollered as she fist-pumped the air while charging up her main guns; "Wait! We don't know if it's them!" Bluebird called out as she and her sisters tried to keep up with her.

* * *

Down on the third level:

"OH SHIT!-" Rosy nearly jumped out of her skin, "THEY KNOW WE'RE HERE! WE'RE SCREWED! WE'RE SO TOTALLY DEAD!" she screamed.

Max slapped her around the face, snapping her out of her blind panic: "They _haven't _found us yet! So get a grip and keep it together!-" she barked, But Roxy was quick to punch her in the face, "Don't you slap my sister like that!" she growled, Max was about to retaliate when Chelsea and Jeanie both jumped in between them, "Now is _so not the time!_ Focus! We gotta get out right now!" Jeanie shouted.

At that moment the elevator doors opened; and without even stopping to question the logic of why, the girls ran out and looked around for somewhere to hide; but upon hearing heavy footfalls and shouting fast approaching: the girls made an immediate U-turn and dived back into the elevator before the doors closed.

"Get us out!" Violet shouted impatiently as she clutched her plushie toy anxiously.

"I'm trying I'm trying!" Allie panicked as she kept slamming on the button for the top floor: "-Wait, where's Max?"

Sure enough, Max wasn't in the elevator.

"God damn it Max!-" Chelsea cursed as she slammed the wall with her fist

"Well good riddance" Roxy scoffed with a smug grin

"Okay, THAT DOES IT!-" Chelsea lost it, and threw herself at Roxy in an attempt to throttle her; between the two of them throwing punches and wrestling to the floor and Allie and Jeanie trying to separate them, Rosy was on the verge of another panic attack while Violet tried to kick Chelsea off Roxy.

Meanwhile, the elevator neared the first level...

* * *

In the security center:

"We've just confirmed there's no strange energon residue anywhere so it must be humans that got in" Inferno informed everyone

"Okay, that's somewhat more manageable" Red Alert nervously sighed with relief.

"Never the less, we don't know what they want so keep your guard up and be prepared for anything" Prowl warned

Majestrix sighed in disappointment as she stroked Shadowfang, who was curled around her neck: "...Sorry precious, looks like there won't be any treats tonight". The black cat-snake gave a sour chirring growl as she scowled at the security camera feeds, unhappy at the prospect of not having Decepticon for dinner. "...Inform Prime and the others to withdraw and let Major Lennox assume command; report to me as soon as they have the intruders in custody" the Prima ordered as she strolled out of the door with her discontented pet.

"Come on, we better make sure one of the intruders isn't a hacker..." Darren beckoned Trailbreaker to follow him as he strode out the door and made his way to the elevator, "There're terminals in the corridors on every level: I need to put the manual hard-drive breakers on so they don't hack Teletran"

"Okay, we'll start with the ones in sector B" Trailbreaker replied as he stepped up to the elevator and pressed the button for the second level: "Think their gonna drag this out?"

"At this point I hope not; I've had enough action today and I don't need any more surprises screwing things up" Darren sighed in exasperation.

But no sooner had he spoken; the elevator went ding, and as the doors opened, everything seemed to suddenly ground to a halt.

The sound of a vinyl record being scratched would've been the most appropriate accompaniment to this precise moment in time as Roxy, Chelsea, Rosy, Allie, Jeanie and Violet stopped fighting, and gawked at their cousin standing there next to a big black robot, who seemed equally surprised to see them as Darren was.

No one moved and no one spoke, as they stood there dumbfounded and gawking at one another in shock, while their brains (and one processor) tried to comprehend what the hell was going on.

"...What the fuck? ..."

* * *

Down on the third level:

"Hehehe! This place is _so totally awesome!_" Lizzy bounded down the corridor like a gazelle on crack, unable to make her mind up what to do or where to go; until, she caught sight of a huge set of double doors, with a big red warning sign painted on which said: WHEELJACK'S LAB: DANGER! DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU HAVE A DEATHWISH!

Lizzy's lips curled into the biggest smile her facial muscles could muster while her eyes lit up in pure unrestrained excitement: the temptation shot up to overwhelming levels, and the pre-teen just couldn't resist the opportunity to see what was inside, and so let herself in through the narrow gap in the unlocked doors.

Meanwhile: some distance away, Max was having a harder time navigating the giant labyrinth of corridors and hangers as she tried to find another elevator. This was one strange military base; not only were the corridors and hangers all super-sized to the point where they were disproportionate to a human's average size, but the walls were lined with numerous elevated walkways, staircases and balcony-like platforms. What were they for? Did this base specialize in storing and using specialized heavy machinery? Were the walkways there so no one could be accidentally run down or knocked over? Whatever the reason, the scale of this place was immense, and once or twice she couldn't help but wonder what the rest of it must be like.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps snapped her out of her thoughts, and Max dived into the nearest open door she could find; pressing herself up against the wall on the other side of the door, she held her breath as armed soldiers ran by. As soon as they were out of earshot, she breathed a soft sigh of relief...

But as she looked around to see what kind of room she'd hidden in; she gasped in amazement...

The room was an enormous observation platform of some kind, and the opposite side was one big glass wall that stretched to over fifty feet tall, giving a wide panoramic view of the outside. As her eyes tried to comprehend what she was seeing, she realized the base was set into the walls of some giant canyon with a flat tarmac bottom: and sitting on that tarmac, was perhaps the biggest, most awesome sight she'd ever seen in her whole life.

Space ships

Three giant _alien _space ships: their sheer mass filled out the space of the canyon, and on the ground running under and between them were _more_ giant robots.

Suddenly realizing this was no ordinary military base, a breath of amazement escaped her lips as she slowly backed away from the glass wall. But suddenly, she spotted something: a reflection moving ever so slightly on the glass's polished surface...

Something or someone was right behind her

Spinning around, she saw no one, the room was empty. But her gut was telling her _something was here_, and it was something she couldn't see.

"You're brave to have made it this far into the base..." a sultry female voice spoke in a smooth tone, "...Though it won't do you much good to run at this point..." it added with a slight smirk.

Max looked all around, the platform was dark with only the light from the outside to offer any form of illumination; the walls and space in between was completely bare so there was nowhere for anyone to hide. Where did the voice come from?

Deciding she wasn't going to wait and see who it was, Max bolted for the door, but as soon as her feet left the ground, she tripped on something hard; picking herself up and looking behind to see what it was, she frowned in alarm: attached to her ankle was, what she could only describe as a long thick strand of white sticky gooey silly-string. Beside her, she spotted a giant spider-shaped shadow drift across the floor, and heard the sound of insect-like hissing/clicking.

She was about to scramble to her feet when a loud explosion tore through the corridor and shook the whole place; the glass wall cracked and part of the ceiling came down: and with it, something big and metallic with four glowing yellow eyes. Choosing not to stick around and find out what it was: Max made a break for the door, making use of the dust cloud that had been blown up by the explosion. She didn't know where she was going and right now she didn't care, she had to put some distance between her and that thing back in the room.

* * *

Picking herself up and dusting off the debris, Portia looked around at the damage and huffed in dissatisfaction; "Of all the times for Wheeljack to be tinkering, he has to do it during a code red?" the spider femme thought aloud as she stood on all six of her long spider legs, and smoothly scuttled out of the room.

"Now then, where oh where did you scamper off to?" she thought aloud in a playful tone; picking up the scent of the webbing she'd tagged the girls ankle with, Portia followed the scent down the corridor, but had barely gotten several meters before another several blasts and booms rocked the complex.

Somewhere down the corridor; a series of shouts, curses and scuffling noises caught the femme's attention, and she smiled in satisfaction: "This, is going to be fun..." With all six of her spider legs moving at an impossible speed, the spider-femme raced along the walls and ceiling of the corridor, until she came within a hundred yards of Wheeljack's lab.

She blinked in surprise at the sight of the six giant burnt out (and still smoking) holes in the wall; clearly the work of one of Wheeljack's prototype weapons, but who fired it?

At this range the shouting could be heard with much more clarity, and she identified one of the voices as Warpath's. She could tell he was getting a run for his energon, as he was trying to grab someone: a human by the sounds of it, and wasn't having much luck. But after another few bangs and crashes, the mech chuckled triumphantly as he strode out of the room with two young human girls clutched securely in each fist.

"So? Ya thought you could have a 'lil fun in Jackie's lab huh? Well you just gone an' lucked out ya' lil' sneaks!" he smugly grinned down at both of them, before noticing the spider-femme hanging from the ceiling: "-Oh, Howdy Portia!"

"Warpath" she nodded with a polite smile, "Who are our uninvited guests?" she asked as she abseiled down a strand of silk she spun from out of her abdomen.

"Whoa! You're a spider?! Sweet!" the youngest human replied in exuberant overly-zealous delight; the other female however, just glared up at her with a sour look on her face.

"And what's their story?" she asked the mech

"'Ah caught this one-" he held up the youngest, "Tryin' out Jackie's new Pulse-Hammer Cannon (you know, the one that broke Brawn's arm clean off?). Havin' a lil' too much fun for the walls to handle weren't ya?"

"She made me do it!" the younger female pointed to the elder female in his other fist.

"WHAT! You little bitch! I didn't even know you were here!" the elder female spat back: and as the two females began slinging curses and profanities at each other, getting more pissed off with every insult, the two bots deadpanned at each other, rolled their optics, and began making their way to the elevator, while the two humans tried to reach across to strangle one another.

* * *

An hour or so later:

"...So? They're your _cousins? _... As in: real blood-relative kinda cousins?" Miles pointed to the security camera feeds.

"Yes..." Darren peevishly ground out from in between his clenched teeth, glaring at the monitors with a deep loathing scowl; one could practically picture the thunderclouds raging over his head at this point, as he had been in the sourest of moods for longest time since-...anyone could remember.

The other kids glanced at one other with pained winces. "Man, no wonder you keep your work and home lives separate" the blond teen grimaced as he continued to watch the spectacle.

The evening's events had turned out to be more, 'awkward' than anticipated. Darren wouldn't have minded in the least if the intruders had turned out to be spies working for some foreign power, perhaps a group of mercenaries looking for some piece of exotic alien tech to sell on the black market, or maybe even a bunch of die-hard fight-to-the-death terrorists that had somehow found out about the Autobots and didn't approve of them being here on earth. Those he could handle...but not this...

The last hour had flown by in a mix of confusion and bemusement, coupled with an abundance of catty-bitchy attitude, over-dramatized pleading begging and bribing: and monotonous prattling and arguing that could put the likes of Longrange to shame any day of the week. No sooner had the girls been apprehended and confined to the base's human brig, the demands to know what the hell was going on drowned out the interrogators questions, and it rapidly became clear that the girls had seen way too much while at the same time not being able to put two and two together.

With things spiraling out of control, the soldiers were forced to confine the girls to separate cells; the only acceptation being Violet, who was paired with Hailey to make sure she was properly supervised by a responsible adult ('responsible' being the key word at this point). Other than that, the girls contrasting versions of events hadn't help to enlighten how they ended up in the base, and between their attitude to one another and their somewhat presumptuous self-important delusions of themselves (with the acceptation of Jeanie, Chelsea and Allie); this was turning into a much more complicated situation, and the fact that Darren was a blood-relation didn't serve to mellow things out; if anything, it only made the whole scenario much more tense.

As the Autobots and humans watched the security feeds of the girls in their cells with a mix of curiosity and surreal disbelief; a nagging sense of pity for Darren's predicament played on their minds all the way throughout. It was well known he didn't speak of the rest of his family often; now they all understood why...

In her cell, Roxy was ranting at the guard with fervorous ire, wagging her finger hard and threading to sue him if he didn't let her have a phone call and an attorney within the next thirty seconds; and judging from the look on his face; she was really testing the man's nerve.

Rosy was more or less demanding the same, though not quite as aggressively; but she seemed to keep getting distracted by her own prattling as she voiced her observations of what she had seen, and was spewing out practically a hundred questions a minute. Needless to say, though it didn't show on his face, the guard couldn't help but stare at her as if to say: What the fuck are you talking about?!

Max however, was (surprisingly) a lot more laid back: sitting on the bunk of her cell nonchalantly as if it were a standard police precinct cell, she had treated the whole incident as though she were used to it, and not once had the sight of the armed soldiers fazed her in any way. Although she had calmed down since being caught, the isolation had done little to mellow her attitude, and she sat there staring daggers at the guard. At this point everyone was pretty sure she hadn't even blinked.

Violet, despite being only seven years old, was being a real little madam; as Hailey tried to make pleasant conversation, Violet kept making unreasonable demands for ice cream, candy and hot dogs, and every time Hailey said no, she'd throw a mother of a tantrum: screaming, wailing, and a few times even punching and kicking, refusing to calm down. Everyone had to hand it to Hailey, her patience and tolerance were remarkable, much more so than they knew they had for such a job. But despite her best attempts to calm her down and divert her attention to something else, Violet _refused_ to back down or sway from her demands. She was stubborn to a tee, and most of the older Autobots were of the opinion that she'd be a formidable foe to argue with (were she a Decepticon, they dreaded to think how mercilessly she would fight).

Despite the fact that no one was being fooled, Lizzy was _still_ trying to bribe the guard to let her out to go to the bathroom (an obvious ruse); the sly twinkle in her eyes was hard to miss, and it was abundantly clear after discovering what she'd done in Wheeljack's lab, _she was trouble through and through._

Jeanie, Chelsea and Allie however, were being far more mature, and reason-minded about all of this. Sitting in their cells still and quiet, anxiety and worry was written across their faces as they waited to see what would happen next. Unlike the others they were aware of the gravity of the situation, and knew that somehow, this probably wasn't going to turn out good. Darren heaved a heavy sigh, for they were the only ones he was really feeling sorry for.

To know that his cousins were now aware of the Autobots existence was bad enough; but the fact they were being so flippantly blasé about it pissed Darren off to no end. Watching them in their cells was like watching an episode of my sweet sixteen, only with the ridiculous factor amplified by five. Had it even registered in their minds that some of the bots were up to thirty feet tall and could easily squish them with one foot? Did it even occur to them that these 'robots' were a little too sophisticated to be comprised from human tech?

But then he had to remind himself that _these_ were his cousins after all, and they were about as computer-literate as a pot plant (and even then, he was pretty certain a pot plant could do way better on a computer then all of them put together). He winced at the memory of the time when he tried to explain to Rosy how to unfreeze her computer: and when asking her to try opening and closing Windows, she simply replied "How does opening my bedroom window help?"

He facepalmed hard, and it was only when everyone snapped their heads round to see what was wrong that he realized he'd done it unconsciously (which only made him grumble even more): Studying the girls with a critical eye, Colonel Bishop's poker face hadn't changed, but as he turned and wandered over to the edge of the bot-sized computer terminal, his expression soon changed to a disapproving frown. "Well, I gotta hand it to you Ainsly: those apples fell very, _very far_ from the tree" he stated.

"I know..." Darren frowned as he continued to boil

"Glen, what have we got?" Bishop asked

"Man, these girls sure know how to find trouble, as well as cause it..." he huffed as he brought up all the necessary data on the central hub's main terminal; "Okay, so we pulled up all the available CCTV feeds from the district where those warehouses were at, every traffic light camera, every ATM camera; and this is what we got" he said as brought up all the video feeds in chronological order. "Seems like Roxy and Allie were the first to spot you guys, they followed you to the warehouse and the others just happened to show up round about the same time. But check out what Barricade was doin' before Prime engaged him..." he pointed to one particular feed.

The Autobots all studied the image in a mix of concern and realization: "He stalked the girls all the way to the warehouse?" Ultra Magnus blinked in surprise

"So it would seem" Glen continued, "But I think the battle-station was his real target"

"But that doesn't account for why he followed them, that battle-station doesn't emit a standard location signal so he _couldn't_ have know it was there until he was in visual range" Ironhide interjected

"And let's not forget, he _did _have back-up waiting there; if he was after the battle-station, one of them could have commed him and he'd have been there right away" Miles reasoned

"A probable scenario, but highly unlikely" Prime stated, "If Barricade and the other Decepticons had known of our presence, they would've kept their comms silent: least we'd have detected them first"

"There is one other probable explanation as to why he followed the girls..." Majestrix added: everyone gazed up at her as she explained "During his time 'out of action' he could've done research and discovered the connection they have to you..." she gazed down at Darren; "That social network site they frequently visit; Face-Look? ..."

"Facebook" Darren corrected

"I stand corrected" she nodded politely, "Some of their daily updates: while hardly relevant in terms of logistics, _do_ feature a number of comments on certain family members, and some of these 'informative comments' include a number of family photos..." she explained as she brought up Roxy, Rosy, Lizzy and Jeanie's Facebook pages on the main monitor. "It is probable that, during a standard reconnaissance sweep of the internet, he came across these pages, and when he found Darren's profile photo, realized the connection between him and them"

Darren facepalmed again

"It does stand reason that it is the most logical probability" Prowl concurred

"Yeah but of all Facebook pages there are out there on the internet, he finds _their_ pages just like that?" Tom raised a skeptical eyebrow

"Barricade has been underground for over two years; that's a long time to do your homework" Bishop pointed out

"Fair enough, so he got lucky on that front" Danny shrugged, "But getting back on track, how did they end up inside Prime's trailer?"

"That. Is the real unbelievable part..." Glen grimaced as he brought up another camera feed; this time, it was one with Prime's battle-station/trailer just barely within the frame: "You see the trailer there, and you see the girls smackin' the crap outta each other down there" he pointed to the image, "Now watch carefully, this next bit happens real fast..."

As they watched the feed, everyone blinked in astonishment as the battle-station's platform paneling flipped them up, and down into the trailer.

"The trailer scooped them up?" Sam gasped, "In mid-transformation?"

"So it would seem" Majestrix frowned, "They couldn't get off the platform in time"

"How come we didn't hear them?" Lennox frowned

"Over the noise of all those missiles and mortar rounds how the hell could anyone hear through all that din?" Danny reasoned

"No, I mean afterwards; presuming they hadn't hit their heads and fallen unconscious after the trailer snapped them up, they would've been pounding on the walls to try and get someone's attention" Will pointed out

"The whole trailer is comprised of pure cybertanium, it's not exactly the best metal alloy for carrying sound vibrations" Ironhide replied

"Okay..." Will sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "So we know how they got here, we know how they got here _in the first place_. The question now is: what do we do with them?"

A moment of uncomfortable silence stretched out as everyone glanced at each other in a mix of sheepish awkwardness and confusion.

"Can't we send them home?" Becca suggested

"I would be most in favor of that option, were it not for the fact Barricade is aware of their connection to Darren; if we send them home we could be putting them and the rest of their family in danger" Prowl pointed out

"Which is why I have already dispatched Hound, Brawn, Smokescreen and Jolt to both family residences; Hound and Smokescreen will be monitoring the girls home, while Brawn and Jolt have Darren's creators under their watchful optics" Majestrix added

"Thank you" Trailbreaker replied

"And what about the girls? ..." Epps asked,

There was a short pause before Bishop stated, "To say these girls are a liability _doesn't even begin_ to describe the level of risk they pose. They're totally reckless with no sense of priority for their own safety, as well as the safety of others (among other things). They were more concerned with trying to throttle one another, rather than try to help each other get away from that fight: and even when they were on the base, they were more preoccupied with their petty squabbling than trying to find a way out. On top of that, they've seen (and used) above-classified personnel and equipment that _no one_ outside this base knows exists: They've shown a complete disregard for authority, as well as an unwillingness to listen to reason"

"Pft! That's for damn sure" Miles scoffed offhand

Bishop paused to draw in breath, and in a calmer tone, continued"...My point is: these girls have got _a long way to go_ before they can be trusted with _any form_ of responsibility; as they are now, I don't need to state the obvious and point out that their not ready to be trusted with keeping the Autobots a secret, forget NEST's national security status as a black-ops outfit...If they're to stay here, then they're going to receive _a major_ attitude adjustment. I don't care how long it takes, we'll keep them on the base for the rest of their natural lives if we have to, but I _refuse_ to let them back out into society, knowing what they've seen and heard...I'm all for protecting innocent bystanders who get caught in the crossfire of this conflict, but _I draw the line_ at disrespect and loud-mouthed rudeness" he stated matter-of-factly.

Prime nodded in agreement: "...I agree: their attitude and unruly manner does indeed pose a liability, and it is a matter we will have to address if the secrecy of our existence is to remain intact" he stated to the whole room, "...But, while Colonel Bishop and myself may be the ones to approve of their 'temporary stay' on this base, it is also up to Darren, to determine if this is a feasible course of action"

At that moment, all eyes and optics fell upon the young hacker

"Well? Do you think you can talk some sense into them? At least enough to inform them of what we've got in store?" Bishop raised an eyebrow.

As everyone gazed at him in anticipation, Darren just wanted the earth to swallow him up and spit him out into the deepest darkest hole imaginable. This was uncomfortably unbearable: of all the scenarios and possible crisis to arise, for the first time in his life he didn't know what to do. And as the seconds ticked by and his list of options grew shorter and shorter, his displeasure was reflected in his ridged frame and intense scowl. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore: there was only one thing he _could_ do, and at the back of his mind he hoped, preyed and wished that it would yield some kind of resolution, if not at least reassurance.

He reached for his cell phone in his back pocket, and in the calmest, flattest tone he could muster, asked politely: "Would please excuse me? I need to make a call..."

He turned to climb down the side of the human walkway/platform that lead onto the command center's main computer terminal, strode across the room, weaving in and out between the bots legs and feet, and left the command center without a word.

At that point everyone wasn't sure what to make of his reply; was it bad? Was it worse? Was he even more pissed off than before? Were he and his cousins really on such bad terms that _this_ is how he reacts whenever their involved in _anything _to do with him? At the back of his mind Lennox couldn't help but feel this wasn't fair on Darren: that his family's unhappy situation should be exposed like this, in such an awkward and unconventional manner. And as he gazed up and noticed the forlorn and helpless look on Trailbreaker's faceplates, he shook his head as a bad feeling told him this wasn't going to go smoothly, whatever the decision.

"Um? Excuse me? ..." Bluebird spoke up as she raised her hand a little; up until now, she along with Veebee and Tangostar had been watching things unfold from the back of the room. "If you need someone to act as guardian for the humans, we'd like to volunteer please"

"You three?" Majestrix raised a skeptical optic ridge

"Strictly speaking it was _our_ fault they got involved in the first place" Bluebird replied humbly

"Yeah, I mean if Firefly hadn't come along hollering like that, they wouldn't have seen us and you guys in the first place" Veebee reasoned

"The least we can do is make up for our disregard and lousy vigilance, sir" Tangostar added sheepishly

Studying the femmes and sensing their sincerity: Optimus nodded in acknowledgment, "I appreciate your offer, but we will decide what is to be done with them: at this point, the subject of guardianship is not a primary consideration"

The sisters looked at one another, and sighed: "We understand sir" Bluebird bowed respectively

"Who did Darren call?" Becky asked curiously

"His creators..." Trailbreaker sighed

* * *

Several minutes later, outside the command center:

: ...Well, I gotta hand it to them, when they find trouble it's never a dull moment: Darren's father deadpanned

"Dull? It's been _anything but! _..." Darren huffed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to breath out the stress: "...Look, dad, I don't know what the hell to do here! We can't let them leave they've seen way too much, and even if we could let them leave Barricade might come back for them, _or_ Uncle Will and Aunt Lorie, or even _you_ guys. There're some bots who're gonna watch your place and theirs while they're here, but other than that, we're stuck with them"

A brief pause stretched over the line as Darren's father considered all that he'd been told. : Alright...: he sighed, :But their all okay yes?:

"Their fine"

: And the interrogations? They didn't grill them too hard? :

"Seriously dad? _Them_ being grilled?" Darren deadpanned with a frown

: ...Right, I forgot..." he drolled, before turning serious again; :...Okay, I'll talk to your mother and we'll try and come up with something to tell Will and Lorie; but you _do_ realize we won't be able to stall them forever? One way or another this is gonna come out eventually:

"I know..." Darren sighed sheepishly.

: Look, don't stress yourself out; let me and your mother worry about the cover story: you just concentrate on looking after the girls:

"... That's what worries me..." Darren winced, "Dad you know what we're like when we're put in the same room together, it's a bag full of cats wolverines and badgers: its volatile and sheer insanity!"

: I know son, but this time your gonna have to stand up and take charge; look, if you can survive what you went through in that other universe, you can survive _this_...Remember what we always say? ...:

"Yeah..." Daren rolled his eyes, "When life gives you lemons-"

: -You make lemon-cake and eat it: his father smiled, :Keep your chin up, you'll be okay, I promise:

"...I hope so"

: You will. Love you son:

"Love you too dad..." Darren sighed as he flipped the phone shut; for a moment he just stood there, eyes glazed over and face expressionless as his thoughts began running through every possible way to approach this; he could do this, the question was how to go about it.

He was so lost in thought that Trailbreaker nearly made him jump when he poked his head around the frame of the door. "Hey" he greeted in a hushed tone, "Are you okay?"

Darren nodded as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, and strode back into the command center, where everyone was still waiting.

"Well?" Bishop asked

Looking up at Prime, he stated: "Take them outta their cells and down to the mess-hall; I'm gonna talk to them, and I need _you four_ to be present" he pointed to Prime, Bishop, Lennox and Trailbreaker.

"What've you got in mind?" Lennox asked

"...Honestly?" Darren sighed in weary exhaustion, "I'm just gonna wing it..."

The Major and Colonel glanced at one another: "Fair enough" Bishop nodded, "But have you considered anything in the way of supervision for them?"

Darren thought a moment, and then noticed Bluebird, Veebee and Tangostar; "Hey..." he beckoned them over, the three sisters obliged as they kneeled down in front of him: "...You guys have been driving around all over Tranquility today; What do you think about humans?"

"Well?-" Bluebird thought a moment, before Veebee enthusiastically interjected: "-You lil' guys are totally awesome! I mean, not only do like, have the _coolest _sense in vehicular style: you got _a whole megaton_ of awesomeness going on! Seriously, I could _really _get used to this planet!" she grinned gleefully.

"Ditto; from what I've seen on the internet, you guys _know_ how to have fun!" Tangostar smiled

"It _is_ a pretty interesting planet, and the level of diversity in your culture is _way higher_ than that of Cybertron during the heyday of its golden age" Bluebird added

Staring up at them, Darren's expression went from sourly stressed to bright optimism: "...Really? Well then, if it's okay with Prime, I got a favor to ask..."

* * *

Several minutes later in the mess-hall/rec-room:

"_I swear_ this had better be good!" Roxy huffed as she folded her arms and sat down at one of the tables. When the girls were all seated, the guards pulled back to stand by the doors: keeping a watchful eye on all of them.

The Ainslie sisters/cousins didn't have to wait long before the fifty foot doors at the far end of the giant room opened up, and two giant robots, one red and blue and the other black, stepped in and made their way over to them; followed closely by three much smaller robots, one sky blue, one tangerine orange, and one bright pink. They were an impressive sight, and the three smaller robots instantly caught the girl's eyes...

...Until they saw two army officers standing by the biggest bot's feet, with Darren standing between them. For a moment an awkward silence stretched out between the sisters and their male cousin as they studied each other up and down.

"I guess I don't have to ask how you're all feeling?" Darren asked bluntly

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Lizzy frowned

"I don't know Lizzy? You like a good joke, you tell me?" he stated sarcastically

Sensing this was probably not going to be good, Jeanie was about to ask what was going on, when Roxy beat her to it: "So? Which cell did they put you in dweeb? Or did they just skip straight to the water-boarding?" she smirked nonchalantly, but the sarcastic mocking undertone didn't escape Darren's attention.

In the back of his mind, Darren's satisfaction spiked a little: "I wasn't in a cell," he stated, "I _work _here"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Uh? ...w-what?" Rosy blinked in confusion

"I work here, as a technical analyst among other things; a Class-1 hacker registered under the Pentagons NSC list, data-interpretation, some minor tech support and a lot of linguistic translation" Darren replied with a slight air of smugness.

There was a short pause, before Roxy burst into a fit of laughter, followed by Rosy and Lizzy; but when the girls realized no one else was laughing, and the larger robots were gazing down at them with some pretty hard stares, they slowly came to a stop, and looked Darren in completely disbelief.

"...You're kidding"

"Do _I look like_ I'm kidding Roxy?" Darren frowned

And that was when it dawned on all of them, they _weren't_ being punked.

"You actually _work_ here?!" Chelsea exclaimed

"How long?" Jeanie butted in

"About two and a half years" Darren replied offhand

"So? There's no prep school in Oregon?" Rosy realized

"That was my cover story..." Darren corrected, "I work and live here most of the week, and secretly come home on the weekends; my particular job requires a lot of attention to detail, so I always got to be on hand in case of an emergency"

The girls all glanced at one another: "What exactly do you _do?_" Rosy asked in bewilderment.

"I'm afraid that's classified ma'am" the Colonel stated flatly

"Okay, well can you _at least _tell us what this place is? _Why _you recruited the dweeb for a techy, _and just what the hell are those things?!_" Roxy pointed up at the robots in frustration.

Taking that as his cue, Optimus kneeled down and obliged her with his answer: "We 'things' are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron (or Autobots for short); my name is Optimus Prime, and these are my troops: Trailbreaker, Bluebird, Tangostar and Veebee" he gestured to the other Autobots.

The girls all blinked in surprise: "...Alien robots? As in, from_ outta space alien robots?!_" Rosy gasped in realization

"The same," Darren drolled sarcastically

"FUCKING AWESOME!" Lizzy fist-pumped

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Roxy exclaimed

"Whoa, really?" Chelsea blinked in surprise

"...Okay..."Allie replied nervously, "So? W-what are you doing here on earth?"

From there, Optimus told them everything. The war, the Autobots and the Decepticons, the Allspark and how it came to earth, the search to find it before the cons did, the battle at Mission city, and the subsequent two years that followed afterwards. He also explained how Darren became involved, as well as NEST's function as a human/Autobot alliance, and how it was their duty to protect the world from the threat of the Decepticons; and then explained the events of tonight, and what it was they had witnessed.

When he was done, the girls stared at him and each other in a mix of utter dumbfoundedness, shock, and sheer disbelief. After a moment, Roxy snapped out of her funk, and came back to the here and now: "...Let me get this straight. This 'Barricade' tried to get to you guys by trying to get to _us_?" she exclaimed

"Darren's knowledge of cybertronian technology makes him a vulnerable target; despite our best efforts to keep his identity secret from the Decepticons, it would seem Barricade has managed to identify him though the internet" Prime stated gravely

"The internet? How?" Rosy asked offhand

"Facebook" Prime replied

"Namely _your_ profile pages" Darren glared at them accusingly

A sense of shame began to well up in Jeanie's gut, as did Chelsea and Allie as they realized what they had done; they said nothing as they continued to listen.

"-Because you mentioned me by name and posted my profile photo (_when I specifically told you not to!_), Barricade was able to make the link: and so stalked you guys thinking you'd lead him to me!" Darren added

"And now, no thanks to your foolish actions, you have put both yourselves and your families lives in danger; we've dispatched a security team to keep an eye on your parents, but I'm afraid it's too great a risk to let you off the base" the Colonel stated

"WHAT?!" Roxy and Max both exclaimed

"You mean-, we're not allowed to go home?!" Allie squeaked in dismay

"That pretty much sums it up" Darren stated flatly

"And what? You're supposed to be our babysitter or somethin'?" Lizzy smirked, thinking this couldn't get any worse.

"Reluctantly, _yes_" he frowned at her

The girls all paused

"Wait-...you're leaving _him_ in charge of us?!" Roxy exclaimed

"You got a problem with that?" the Colonel shot back

Before Roxy had a chance to fly off the rails again, Darren held his hand up and stated sternly: "-DON'T EVEN _THINK_ OF ANSWERING THAT!-", he lowered his tone a little, "I am _so not_ in the mood for your attitude, or _any_ attitude for the matter! It's not just the fact Barricade knows who you all are and might try to kidnap you again: it's because _none of you_ (save for Jeanie, Allie and Chelsea) can be trusted to keep NEST and the Autobots a secret!"

"And if your little cat-fight's anything to go by, I'd say girls are _way overdue_ for an attitude adjustment" the major sternly pointed out, "If you'd actually tried _helping_ each other instead of trying to _kill _one another, you probably wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!"

"And _don't even think_ of trying to worm your way outta this one! We've seen the CCTV footage of your little spat during that fight by the warehouse, we know what happened, so _don't even try_ to palm us off with excuses!" Darren added, much to Lizzy's annoyance.

An uncomfortable pause slipped by before Jeanie spoke up: "Okay...so we're not leaving this place; does that mean we go back to the cells?"

Another uncomfortable silence stretched out before Optimus replied: "Despite the circumstances: you are not prisoners, and therefore are not confided to the brig. You will be allowed _some_ freedom to roam the base, but _only_ under strict supervision"

"-Which is where we come in" Trailbreaker interjected, "I am Darren's Autobot guardian; and under the circumstances, we've opted to allot you _temporary_ guardians for the duration of your stay..." he beckoned the three femmes to step forward, "This is Bluebird, Veebee and Tangostar; they will supervise you and act as your transport while you are on the base" he stated

"We get our own robots?! COOL!" Lizzy's eyes lit up with excitement

"But!-" Trailbreaker added, instantly deflating her fervor, "Darren is in charge of you all, and by extension _I_ am in charge of your guardians: so anything you have to say, you will say to him or me, understand?"

Roxy and Max both glared at Darren, to which he only glared back: "_Understand?_" he repeated

"Yes" Jeanie, Chelsea and Allie replied simultaneously

"Yeah yeah fine"

"Whatever"

"Yeah okay"

"Okay, but I get the pink robot!" Violet stated

"Max?..." Trailbreaker raised a skeptical optic ridge

She stared daggers up at him, before nonchalantly replying: "...Fine"

"Good, then it's settled. You will be shown to your temporary quarters, and your guardians will be nearby in case you need anything" the Colonel stated as he and Optimus turned to leave, "...Oh, and please try not to wander off: I can't guarantee your safety if you stray onto the firing range" he added as the doors closed behind them.

"Okay, you've got rooms you've got your babysitters. Good night" Darren stated flatly as he too turned to leave, followed closely by his guardian.

"Darren! Wait!-" Jeanie ran after him, "So that's just it?"

"Uh? Pretty much?" Darren replied sarcastically, "What? You were expecting me let you guys have Tivo too?" he frowned

"No it's just-"

"-Just _what _, Jeanie? You didn't exactly try to lead everyone to safety, _away_ from that fight, and you sure as hell didn't try to stop Lizzy when she fired all those missiles"

"Well _you_ didn't exactly try to get us a better deal!" Roxy frowned as she approached, "I get crammed into a tiny cell with no phone call, no attorney and no bathroom for over a fucking hour: and you just sit at your lil' computer crunching numbers?!"

"Well what the fuck do you expect me to do huh?" Darren folded his arms, "It's standard procedure, and on top of that, I have no reason to do _anything _for _any_ of you!"

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Rosy blinked in surprise

"Try to figure it out..." Darren replied sarcastically as he turned and left the mess; leaving the girls alone with the femmes

"So? ...Anyone in need of refueling?" Tangostar offered sheepishly

* * *

Later that night:

"WHAT?! You guys get to be their guardians?! Why the hell didn't you pick me too?!" Firefly exclaimed

"Because you're too young and too inexperienced to take on such a responsibility" Bluebird stated, "For Primus's sake Firefly! Not only did you break our cover, _you could've killed_ Max and Chelsea when you threw them outta your driver's seat!"

"Hey! I already told you, they tried to car-jack me!" Firefly shot back

"Look, kiddo, no one saying you ain't got the spark for it: but how can you be expected to act as guardian when you don't even like the kids?"

"I didn't say I wanted to be _their_ guardian: I wanna help guard the others" Firefly huffed as she folded her arms

"Look, even if I were to let you help, you're much too immature, inpatient, and unfocused for this job: and on top of that, your way too stubborn to listen and take orders without question" Bluebird stated objectively.

Firefly gawked in alarm, "WHAT! I _so do_ take orders without question!"

"Oh yeah? Like that time we _ordered_ you not to go after that seeker on Priacon 6?" Veebee raised an optic ridge

"And what about that time we _ordered_ you not to scout that desert planet where that old energon mine was situated, and you fell into that hive of scraplets?" Tangostar pointed out

"And not forgetting that sneak-attack you pulled on those Decepticon raiders in the Pharex system, when _I specifically ordered_ you _not_ to intercept them" Bluebird added

Firefly simply huffed as she slouched down on her birth

"Look 'Fly, we love you, and we ain't sayin' you'll never be a guardian; but you gotta lot to learn first before you're in a position take something like this on. Starting with being responsible for your own actions and not blaming other people" Tangostar offered

"We'll talk about it some more in the morning; right now, you need your recharge..." Bluebird added as she turned out the lights, "Good-night"

Veebee and Tangostar said their good-nights, but Firefly lay awake in her birth, staring up at the ceiling; with other ideas on her mind.

* * *

**Well, this is shaping up to be a good old jolly family get-together...Probably not XD **

**More insanity to come, and more stress for Darren!**

**Let me know what you think, and catch you next time! ;)**


	6. Chpt 5: Begging for Trouble

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

Warning: Heavy swearing here and there, nothing too foul really.

* * *

LEMONS & CHERRIES

Chapter 5: Begging for Trouble

Tranquility, the following morning:

The sound of distant traffic was the first thing to stir him from out of his light recharge; kerb-side duty was no-one's idea of fun: and for Jolt, it was as tedious as it could get. He was about to drift off back into recharge, when a soft noise suddenly caught his attention...

Quietly approaching, and sitting himself down on the kerb with his mug of coffee in hand, Darren's father pretended not to notice the dark cobalt blue Chevrolet Volt as he gazed up and watched the birds in the trees.

"Any word from the base?" he asked in a hashed tone, as if trying to be inconspicuous

"Nothing yet Mr Ainsley" the Autobot huffed

"You sure?,"

"I'm pretty sure: look, my orders are just to sit here and make sure the cons don't come rolling this way, okay?" Jolt sighed in exasperation

"Oh..." the man dropped his gaze: "It's just-, I couldn't get through to Darren this morning" he added. With a short sharp sigh, Jolt figuratively rolled his optics and offered: "...Alright, I'll put a comm through to the base and tell him to call you back"

"Thanks" the man smiled as he got up and headed back into the house; where his wife was waiting anxiously in the kitchen: "What'd he say?" she asked.

"He said he'll tell Darren to ring back" he replied

"I told you, you can't get through to a top-secret military base! That's the whole point!" she reprimanded

"Well I'm sorry: I had to try..." he offered before changing the subject, "...Anyway, I know this is a stupid question, but how're they doing?"

His wife hesitated a little before replying: "Lorie called after you went to the store; Will's okay-ish, for now. But that whole story about them running off to _all_ their friend's places to get away from one another is_ not _going to fly with him for long"

"I know I know..." the man winced with embarrassment at how stupid the excuse sounded; "But it was the only thing I could think of on such short notice that wouldn't freak him out. I mean, it's not like human traffickers or a pedophile ring snatching them up would sound any better? Forget the idea that their on a top-secret military base surrounded by giant alien robots"

"Did Darren offer any suggestions?"

"He's got enough on his plate without having to worry about keeping the girls in one piece; the problem is _how_ to break it to Will and Lorie when the time comes: I mean, how the hell do you tell your brother that your nephew's been working for a military black-ops outfit for the past two years?" the man sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"...W-what? ..." A familiar voice gawked behind him.

Darren's father nearly had a heart-attack when he spun round and saw his brother standing there at the door, with a look of absolute bewilderment written across his face. At that moment, Darren's mother scrunched her eyes shut and cursed under her breath; the jig was up (and it had barely been twenty four hours).

"Hi Will ..." she smiled awkwardly, "Didn't hear you come in: care for some waffles?" she asked sheepishly.

* * *

Autobot/NEST base, at the same time:

"What're you two laughing at?" Morri asked as she wandered over to where Ashley and Miles were seated at one of the auxiliary computers, pitching over in a fit of hysterical laughter.

As she leaned over to see what they were looking at, there on the screen, was a YouTube video titled: 'Dumb blond yells at old lady' playing; it showed a blond female driver sitting in her car at an intersection, practically screaming her head off at some poor little old lady who was taking her sweet time crossing the road, at the end, the old lady flipped the bird at the driver and slung a choice curse at her before she drove off in a fit of anger.

"Nice. Mature" Morri nodded sarcastically, '...boys will be boys' she mentally sighed.

"Yeah, but check out who the driver is!" Miles giggled as he blew the video up to cover the whole screen: taking a closer look, Morri instantly recognized the driver...

"Is that Roxy?" she raised an eyebrow, "Bloody hell, she's even worse than I thought!"

"So does everyone else!" Ashley grinned as he scrolled down the list of comments: most if not all, were _not_ flattering at all.

"Oh my..." Morri winced slightly, "Does Darren know?"

"Oh yeah, and boy is he pissed" Miles grinned

"Well? Don't take the mickey out of him okay? He's got enough to deal with as it is..." Morri sighed as she got back to work.

Down in the human mess hall, the first Breakfast period was just getting started as Roxy strode into the room looking like the very image of hell; after pouring herself a huge mug of coffee, she downed the black liquid in several consecutive gulps and shuddered at the bitter taste. "Sleep okay?" Allie asked, trying to sound positive; Roxy glared at her with the hairy eyeball, which instantly made her shut up and recoil back a little.

The other girls hadn't slept well either; Violet had fallen asleep in her cornflakes and Chelsea was trying to stop herself from dozing off, while the rest of the girls simply slouched and lazily tried to eat their breakfasts without making eye-contact. At that moment Darren walked in, got himself his breakfast, and joined the girls at the head of their table, "Morning" he greeted somewhat sarcastically.

"Who the hell gets up at this ungodly hour?" Roxy grumbled as she forced herself to eat a slice of toast.

"Uh? Everyone on the base?" Darren replied, "It's a standard twenty four hour time schedule; I work the day-shift, and nights where necessary"

"Morning" Trailbreaker greeted as he walked into the mess hall, followed closely by Bluebird and Tangostar. "Morning T, you got today's duty roster?" Darren greeted; the black Autobot bent down and handed him a miniature data-pad, which the young hacker took, and nodded as he read through the contents.

"Duty roster?" Chelsea blurted out

"We actually have to _work?!_" Rosy wined

"Not you," Darren was quick to clarify, "Me, we get our rosters first thing in the morning; today I'm on maintenance down on the third level"

"And what are _we _supposed to do? Hand you the wrenches?" Roxy grumbled sarcastically

"Well? If this were a perfect world I'd prefer you throw yourself under a bus," Darren stated in equal sarcasm, "But unfortunately it's not. So, we got games and stuff in the rec-room, there's miles and miles of desert to explore, plus a giant swimming pool in the wash-racks, and a whole pack of giant hellhounds to play with and go walkies. Basically, just _stay _outta trouble: _don't go looking_ for trouble, and _don't start_ _any trouble_, especially with each other; got it?"

"Whatever" Roxy waved off in a blase manner

"I mean it Roxy, I hear one word of _anything_ and I'll be on your ass before you can even blink" Darren warned, "That goes for you too Rosy" he added. Looking around the table, Darren suddenly realized they were short two: "Where's Lizzy and Max?" he asked. "Oh, Lizzy said she was gonna get breakfast first and wait for us here" Rosy waved off. "Max said she was gonna wait here for me too" Chelsea added. Looking around and seeing they weren't anywhere in the mess hall, Darren passed an annoyed huff as he hit the comm button on his CTG and relayed to the security hub: "Security, can you do a quick sweep of the cameras? Max and Lizzy are both AWOL".

**: Copy that, I'll get back to you as soon as I have optics on them:** Inferno replied

Bluebird and Tangostar both facepalmed: "Guess I shoulda seen _that_ coming" Bluebird sighed

"So what do we do?" Violet asked as she managed to lift her head to wipe the milk and soggy cornflakes off her face.

"First, I gotta make sure _all of you_ are accounted for: ergo, we go look for your sister and cousin" Darren replied; Violet, Rosy and Roxy all wined in protest, but Darren was not cutting them any sympathy, "Hey, dad told me to make sure you all stay in one piece while you're here, so quit yer gripping and finish your breakfasts" he sternly added. No one spoke as breakfast was soon over and done with; stepping out into the corridor, Darren lead the way with Trailbreaker at his side, the girls behind him, and Bluebird and Tangostar bringing up the rear. While Roxy and Rosy began chatting with each other, Jeanie, Allie and Chelsea took the opportunity to discreetly jog up to Darren's side and anxiously stay on his heels.

"Listen, I didn't use your profile picture" Jeanie pleaded to Darren, "Nor did I" Allie added, "And I certainly didn't have it on my laptop" Chelsea threw in. Knowing they were right, Darren sighed as he slowed his pace; "I know" he nodded, "And I shouldn't have been surprised Rosy would post it; she can barely keep _anything _a secret" he thought aloud before he changed the subject: "...Listen, about last night: I didn't mean to go off the rails like that, not with you three" he offered in a more sympathetic tone, "It's just-..."

"Yeah, I know..." Allie dropped her gaze ruefully

"But seriously? How the hell were _we_ to know what would happen last night?" Jeanie pointed out, "I mean it's not like you told us _beforehand_ that you work here?"

"National Security aside: there's _a lotta_ reasons I couldn't tell anyone about this place, and _not just_ because of the Decepticons" Darren sighed, "Between Max and Roxy bitching off against each other, Lizzy and Violet causing trouble, and you guys trying to help my mom and your mom keep the peace: this is my home away from home. Everything else I can deal with, except 'all that'; I _don't do_ confrontation well, that's a poor excuse for chickening out I know, but up until now I didn't know what to do or how to handle it. So I hide away down here, where I know me and my skills count for something"

"But you _do_ count for something, to us!" Allie argued

"Oh yeah? Tell me _one thing_ I'm good for in this family, in all the years I've been alive..." Darren glanced at her with a raised eyebrow; unable to find an answer, Allie shied away. "...Look, it's not that I've given up on this family (believe me if I had I'd have taken off the first opportunity I got; and that was _a long_, long time ago), it's just-, when we _actually try_ to iron our issues out, it all just falls through, and we're back where we started"

Thinking about it, Chelsea nodded, "...Yeah"

"So what _do_ we do?" Jeanie asked

"...I don't know" Darren sighed frankly, "But I promised dad I'd look after you guys while you're here, and considering everything (and I know _somewhere_ along the line it's my fault somehow) I intend to see this through (even if Roxy, Max, Lizzy and Violet bust my balls in the process)"

"Hey I just realized, where's Veebee?" Allie looked up at Trailbreaker

"She said she had something to see to before going on duty: don't know what exactly, but I wish she would've told me beforehand" Trailbreaker huffed in annoyance

"Actually, that reminds me" Darren suddenly remembered, "Before we do anything else: we need to get you guys clued up on the do's and don'ts of this place-" he picked up the pace, "Just as soon as we find your sister/cousin" he hit the comm button on his CTG again, "Inferno, any luck?"

**:Sorry Darren, the security grid on level one's down for maintenance, and some of the sectors down on level three are out too, but we'll keep looking: over and out: **Inferno replied

"Of all the weeks the security grid get's its maintenance checks, it has to be _this week?_" he huffed

"Well they couldn't have gotten far, a place as big as this, they probably got lost? I know we did last night" Allie offered as the memory of last night made her anxious.

"Knowing Max and Lizzy, I _highly_ doubt that" Darren frowned

"Hey, where's Violet? ..." Rosy suddenly said offhand: looking behind and all around, the seven year old was nowhere in sight. The two femmes facepalmed again as Trailbreaker commed the security hub, **:Security; be on the lookout for Violet, she's AWOL too:, :Will 'do T :**.

"Our first day as guardians: and we lose _three_ of them!" Bluebird cursed under breath, "At least we left Firefly in her quarters so what's the worst that could happen?" Tangostar assured her. Somehow, something in the pit of Bluebird's pump told her that wouldn't remain true for long.

* * *

Elsewhere on the base:

As she carefully peered around the corner, Lizzy looked up and down the intersection, listening for any sign of anyone approaching. Satisfied the coast was clear, she straightened up and made a dash for the next corridor along; but as she turned the corner sharply, she hit something hard with a CLANG! And fell on her backside. Rubbing her sore head and looking up to see where the wall of metal had come from: she was surprised to see the green robot (Firefly, she reminded herself) looming over her, optics wide with surprise, as if she were a deer caught in the headlights.

"...Where'd you come from?" Lizzy ungraciously asked as she picked herself up and looked the young femme up and down, realizing she'd just ran into the side of her leg. "Me? Where'd _you_ come from?" she retorted in bewilderment.

"Um? My room?" Lizzy offered with an innocent smile.

"Oh; well uh? I came from my room too..." Firefly replied with an equally innocent smile, "Say, you haven't seen my sisters around have you?"

"Not yet?" Lizzy shrugged

"Oh thank Primus!-" Firefly breathed a sigh of relief, "Listen: don't tell anyone, but I sneaked outta being grounded for last night; but now that I'm out, I'm lost!" she huffed

A spark of sympathy suddenly tweaked in Lizzy's mind, which was quickly replaced by a less-than sensible idea: "Listen, I'm trying to avoid my noob cousin and my loser sisters too, so how about we help each other out huh?" she offered with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Okay, I'm listening..." Firefly grinned as she bent down so she was closer to her level

"Good, but first, can you do that 'transform' thingy you guys do?" Lizzy asked; without a word Firefly effortlessly transformed into her altmode and popped her driver's side door open for her. "So. Totally. AWESOME!" Lizzy squealed as she bounced around the VW Beetle 2000 and jumped onto the driver's seat; "That's so cool how you do that!"

"Of course" Firefly snugly replied, "So, what've you got in mind?"

Lizzy gripped the steering wheel, and with a wild grin, suggested: "...Let's go have some fun!"

"Right on!" Firefly whooped, and sped off down the corridor at break-neck speed.

* * *

Elsewhere on the base:

Having given her sisters and annoying male cousin the slip, Violet really didn't want to be taking orders from anyone today, and so had elected to go exploring the base herself; with her favorite plushie clutched firmly in the crook of one arm, she wandered down the huge (practically) cathedral-sized corridors for some time, ducking into the alcoves and hiding under the stairs of the suspended walkways whenever one of the giant Autobots walked by. Being as small as she was, she was easy to miss, and it was the reason she was soon practically on the other side of the level; just as she was beginning to wonder just how long these corridors were, the sound of laughter caught her ears, and she soon found herself wandering into one of the giant rooms.

The room in question was filled with computers, giant guns and other strange weaponry mounted on the walls; sitting up on one of the terminals was a little girl, younger than herself with golden honey-blond hair, bright blue eyes and dressed in an old worn pair of dungarees. Curious, Violet climbed up the ladder on the side of the terminal and hopped onto the platform, where she found the girl, surround by a collection of different toys.

"Hey there!" She greeted enthusiastically, "Who're you?"

"I'm Violet, Who're you?" she replied in an unreadable tone.

"I'm Annabelle, did you come here to play?" the little honey-blond asked; surveying the toys and liking the look of most of them, Violet nodded and marched over to where Annabelle was sitting, and starting picking up her toys from right in front of her.

"Hey, I was playing with those!-" Annabelle protested, a little taken aback at Violet's blatant rudeness, "If you wanna play with those one's you'll have to wait your turn!" she wagged her finger.

"Get lost dweeb" Violet nonchalantly replied, "I'm bigger and older than you so you can't tell _me _what ta do"

Frowning in annoyance, Annabelle stood up, puffed her chest out, and strode over to Violet and shoved her hard on the back; making her fall forward head over heels, and then seized the opportunity to reclaim her stolen toys. Violet gawked at her in astonishment before getting back up and staring her down with a look of intimidation that would've scared most kids her age. But Annabelle was _not_ one of those kids: she'd faced bigger, much more dangerous foes, and she knew it; this interloper _would not_ put her off as she crossed her arms and stated firmly "Yeah, you're bigger than me: but you ain't got the gahones! _I _blew up a Decepticon with nothing but a box of fire-crackers! You don't scare me ya oversized punk! So what're you gonna do?"

At that, Violet shoved Annabelle hard, making her fall over backwards. Half expecting her to run away in tears, Violet was startled when Annabelle simply scowled at her, got back up, rolled up her sleeves and cracked her knuckles as she balled her hands into fists; "Okay, you wanna do this the hard way? Fine by me!" she growled, and charged at the seven year old with a sharp left hook to the jaw (which was actually pretty impressive for a four year old), making her fall flat on her back. Incensed, Violet went into to a full tantrum as she scrambled back onto her feet, and grasped Annabelle as she tackled her to the floor.

* * *

Elsewhere on the base:

The bright light of the early morning sun was the final confirmation of her escape; after loosening the screws on the vent and kicking the panel off, she dropped out of the air duct and onto the course desert sand with a feeling of satisfaction. The climb up the vent had been long and hard, and navigating the ventilation system had been a bitch: but with persistence she'd finally reached the outside; and not before time, for it hadn't been twenty four hours and she already couldn't wait to get out of this place. As Max carefully looked around, she could see right away that the terrain would work to her advantage; tall broad boulders dotted the landscape, with drastically steep and rugged ridges, gullies and other such features as far as the eye could see: giving this place the slip would be a synch.

First checking for any surveillance cameras, and seeing none, she quietly crept into the maze of boulders, and soon disappeared into the scrub.

As the sun rose higher, the heat became more and more unbearable, and soon Max was forced to travel in the shade, but even that offered little comfort as she made her way through the labyrinth of rock, sand and stone. Climbing up the side of a ridge to see where she was, Max saw she'd put a fair bit of distance between her and the base, but as she looked in the opposite direction, she was taken aback by just how vast the desert was. It seemed to stretch on forever, all the way to the mountains on the horizon, and even then it didn't seem to stop; breathing a sigh of frustration, she realized it might have been more prudent to have first procured some water and supplies, and then undertake the escape at night when it would be much cooler: as it was, it probably wasn't a wise idea to travel the desert in the heat of the day.

But curiosity tugged at her when she spotted the perimeter fence, which was only about six or five hundred yards ahead; a perimeter this big, maybe they didn't check for holes as often as they should? Or perhaps it was rusted and worn in places: and therefore prone to breaking easily? It was worth investigating, for that razor wire on the top looked extra sharp, and the forty foot height wouldn't make for an easy landing either. After she climbed down off her perch, Max left the boulders and rocks behind and made her way across the dense scrub towards the fence, she was about to step out onto the open ground when suddenly-

"I wouldn't step there if I were you" a voice called out

Stopping dead in her tracks and spinning around, Max soon spotted the head of one of the female Autobots peering over a nearby bolder. Recognizing her as the spider Autobot that she encountered with Lizzy last night, Max was a little taken aback to see her this close; had she been following her? No that couldn't be right; she would've spotted her, right? As the spider femme scuttled over the rock on her six long spider legs, she approached the girl but kept her distance so as not to inadvertently spook her.

"The next hundred yards is a mine field. Not particularly safe, for one so fragile" she added in that same sultry voice

"Fragile?!" Max exclaimed, "Who the fuck are you callin' fragile?!"

Picking up a rock, Portia threw it high into the air, and watched as it landed on one of the partially-buried mines; the device exploded with a resonating BOOOOM! As dust and rock shot up into the air, only to rain down in a hail of dust. Despite the explosion being well over seventy five yards away, the force of the blast knocked the wind out of Max. But she didn't fall or stagger, and Portia watched in curiosity as she quickly recovered, albeit somewhat shocked.

"...Still want to take your chances?" Portia offered with a smirk

Max didn't answer, and simply glared at the spider-femme defiantly.

"My, aren't we plucky? ..." Portia observed, "And I guess it doesn't take a genius to work out why I've been tailing you; the only question for me is: why are you so desperate to leave without your sister? ..."

Max still didn't reply; but as she watched the subtle changes in the girl's facial expressions, Portia could see (albeit for a tenth of a second) she'd hit a soft spot when she mentioned her sister. Dropping the air of superiority, she decided to level with her as she added: "...I'd have thought you'd convince her to come along, if anything to try and get away from your other female cousins?"

Max still didn't reply, and turned to survey the minefield; although she was daunted at the prospect of being blown up into mince meat, she didn't waver or flinch, and as she carefully scanned the ground, she soon spotted the little telltale 'molehills' that indicated where a mine was buried. As she slowly started stepping around the mines Portia blinked in surprise when she realized what she was doing. Plucky had been an understatement, this girl had some _serious_ brass bearings, if not had a few circuits short of a full mother board. She had no doubt that she could make it to the fence in one piece (she was certainly being careful enough with every footfall), but if she didn't spot 'that one mine that was well hidden' she knew there'd be the pit to pay, and so: shooting a line of her webbing onto the back of her shoulder and yanking her backwards, she got Max far enough away from the edge of the minefield.

"What the hell?!-" Max was about to protest, but Portia beat her to it: "-Listen, you strike me as someone who doesn't shy away so easily, so rather than watch you potentially blow yourself up, I'll make you a deal; if you can beat me in a fair fight, I'll get you over the fence, but if _I_ beat you, you have to return to the base: sound good?"

Max studied her for second, before turning her head and spitting, throwing off her hoodie and cracking her knuckles: "Fine, let's get to it" she grunted as she took up a fighting stance. With a small smile, Portia widened her stance and readied her talons, "...Okay then, let's go".

* * *

Awhile later, back on the base:

"Darren, I _really _don't like this!" Allie squeaked as she gripped Bluebird's shoulder plate tightly, "I don't even like heights!" she gulped hard.

"Allie, it's _only _fourteen feet, you couldn't even break your neck if you tried!" Darren huffed as he made himself comfortable on his guardian's shoulder.

"Look it's okay, I'll catch you if you fall" Bluebird assured her as she cupped her hands under Allie's feet; but poor Allie wasn't convinced as she only gripped harder and stiffened her posture. "It's no biggy Allie: look, we got the hang of it already!" Chelsea smiled as she balanced herself on Tangostar's left shoulder; "It's just a question of moving back and forth with each footfall, counter the 'G-force' by counter-balancing your weight with theirs. It's the same basic principle of when you're walking" Darren threw in.

"But I'll fall!" Allie panicked

"Not if you sit right in the center of the shoulder plate, that's where the down-pull of gravity is at its most level; the risk of sliding forwards or backwards is virtually nil there" he replied

"But I _am_ on the center! I'll still fall!" she panicked; coming up alongside Bluebird, Trailbreaker turned his shoulder so Darren was right alongside her; "Look, you learnt how to ride a bike right?" he reasoned, to which Allie nervously nodded "mm-hm". "The key to that was balance: and as soon as you got it, you didn't have to worry about falling over, yeah?" he added; "Yeah?" she nodded, "This is the same basic thing: you just gotta learn to find your balance, once you feel it, you'll be okay; I promise"

"But, what if I still fall?" she asked

"So what? I fell like fifteen times when I tried it, but I got it in the end" Darren reasoned.

"And it's not just you guys: we Autobots have to learn to keep our shoulders steady when we walk, so you guys can balance yourselves more easily. ...Look, we wouldn't let you do it if we didn't think it was doable, and this way we don't have to walk so slowly when you're on the ground; we've got way longer gaits than you humans, and as fit as you guys might be, those little legs of yours do tire out when you try to keep pace with us. It's just for practicalities sake is all" Trailbreaker explained

"And besides, you get a way more awesome view from up here!" Jeanie grinned from she sat on Tangostar's right shoulder.

Peering carefully over Bluebird's shoulder, Allie didn't like the prospect of accidentally sliding off, falling to the ground and possibly breaking her leg, or something as equally painful. But as she watched Darren, and how confident he was sitting on his guardian's shoulder: she tried to reason that maybe it wasn't as difficult as it looked; after all, if Jeanie and Chelsea could do it, then how hard could it be?

"...Just like riding a bike?" she asked

"Just like riding a bike" Darren smiled

"...Okay..." Allie swallowed hard and took a deep breath as she slowly sat up straight and nervously made herself comfortable: "Ready?" Bluebird asked with a reassuring smile: "...Ready" Allie nodded, and as Bluebird slowly stepped forward, Allie wanted to grip the edge of her shoulder plate again; but much to her surprise, found that the rocking motion of the femme's strides wasn't as turbulent as she originally expected, and realized that she could easily adjust her position accordingly; moving in rhythm with her steps. As Bluebird went around in a circle for several minutes, Allie found her fear slipping away, and in its place, a new sense of confidence took hold; as she watched her sister, Jeanie couldn't help but smile: "Always make a fuss over nothing huh?"

"There's nothing wrong with being cautious" Allie stated matter-of-factly

"Yeah right" Chelsea couldn't help but giggle

"So? Okay now?" Darren asked

"I think I'm good" Allie replied with a little more confidence,

"Good, cuz we still gotta find Max, Lizzy and Violet" Darren reminded them

"What about Roxy and Rosy? Where did they go?" Jeanie asked

"Oh, I got fed up of their yammering and told them to go wait in the rec-room" Darren replied as he was suddenly reminded of said cousins, "As much as it pisses me off, I'd rather they stay close so I know _exactly _where they are" he huffed as he motioned for Trailbreaker to head towards the rec-room; the black Autobot nodded and marched off with Tangostar and Bluebird on his heels, while the girls held on tightly as the femmes walked faster. The rec-room was only a minute's walk away, and as they entered the room their attention was immediately drawn to the group of mechs sitting around the largest table, with Roxy and Rosy sitting in the middle chatting and laughing with them.

'Like _that's_ a big surprise' Darren sighed mentally, 'they always know how to sweet-talk a dude'

"Oh hey there!" Rosy waved to Jeanie and the femme sisters, "You've been missing all the fun!"

"Oh yeah?" Jeanie raised a skeptical eyebrow as Tangostar approached the table.

"These guys were just telling us all about how nice it is to have some new faces on the base" Roxy remarked snugly: "So nice to know there's actually some decent company around here"

"Yeah! And their altmode's are _so hot!_" Rosy grinned adoringly up at the Lambo twins, who puffed their chests out with pride.

"You know, you ladies actually ain't half bad, once you strike up a conversation" Jazz said offhand.

"That's what they all say..." Darren deadpanned under his breath as he folded his arms and watched the inevitable transpire.

"So, what brings you here?" Roxy gazed up at her sister

"Uh? We still have to look for our sisters and cousin?" Jeanie retorted sarcastically, "Remember?"

"Uhg, I'm sure they'll turn up somewhere" Roxy waved off, "Grab a drink and join the fun!"

"Fun-time doesn't start until after the day shift is done!" Darren called over from where Trailbreaker was still stood at the door: "We're burning daylight as it is, and that maintenance work I gotta do ain't gonna fix itself you know!"

"Why don't you go off and hack some nerd's calculator or somethin'?" Roxy called back as she glanced over her shoulder nonchalantly, "Dweebs like you don't need to hang around, cramping the style of the A-list crowd"

"Dweeb?" Bumblebee echoed in concern

"Who're you calling a dweeb?" Jazz frowned under his visor

Roxy paused in dumbfounded confusion for a moment, before chuckling and waving the mechs off "Oh come on, you don't seriously think that little loser _over there_ is worth our time do you?"

"Yeah, I mean come on: he's not even got a six-pack let alone a personality!" Rosy giggled.

The humorous atmosphere dropped faster than a dead horse as the bots lost their smiles and gazed down at the girls in a non-too-pleased way. "That 'little loser' is our friend" Bumblebee stated in an unreadable tone: "And we don't take too kindly to anyone dissin' our friends" Jazz added coolly. As Roxy realized they weren't kidding, she got the feeling they weren't welcome anymore: and so grabbed Rosy by the sleeve and awkwardly left the table, climbing into Tangostar's waiting hands. Darren didn't say anything as Trailbreaker and the femmes left the rec-room: but as the bots turned to face each other: Darren regarded Roxy with a 'you just had to say something, didn't you?' kind of look.

Folding her arms and huffing in annoyance, Roxy eyed her cousin, feeling particularly miffed: "How is it that a dork like you get's to have cool friends like them?"

"Because (unlike _some people_ I know), I actually have a charming personality..." Darren replied sarcastically, and then changed the subject: "...Most of the security systems on this level are still down, so we'll have to search of them the old fashioned way"

"Great, good luck with that" Roxy waved off with a mock smile,

"You're coming too" Darren frowned, "Not that you'll be much help, but at least you won't get into trouble (or cause it)"

"Moi? Trouble? Oh please..." Roxy smirked as she eyed Chelsea, "She and her sister are the troublesome ones"

"Shut up" Darren frowned at her in an unreadable voice, "And don't even try that shit with me"

"What shit? I'm pointing out the obvious" Roxy shrugged nonchalantly. Chelsea glared at Roxy but said noting; "Just ignore her, you know she only does it to get under your skin" Jeanie whispered to her. "Don't remind me" Chelsea huffed as she turned her gaze away: only to spot Portia scuttling down the corridor towards them.

"Ah there you are, I was wondering where you'd gotten to" the spider femme greeted them. The bots and humans blinked in surprise when they noticed what she was carrying in one hand; a rather peeved off Max, wrapped up tightly in a webbing cocoon: her face covered in dirt with a rather noticeable bruise on her left cheek.

"Where the hell did you find her? Or needn't I ask?" Darren frowned sarcastically.

"I found her trying to cross the mine field on the southern perimeter"

"MINE FIELD!?" Chelsea practically screamed in alarm

"She was rather hoping to try and find a gap in the fence, so as to try and sneak out" Portia explained as she set Max down on the ground, and with one sharp claw, cut open her cocoon to let her out: "So I wagered that if she could beat me in a fight I'd let her go, if not she had to come back here"

"You only won cuz you're a fucking cheat!" Max growled as she glared daggers up at the femme.

"That's awfully bold: coming from someone who has a particular fondness for hidden weapons..." Portia replied as she produced a small switchblade and a razor from her subspace, and threw them over to Trailbreaker, who caught them easily: "Do be sure to keep those locked up nice and tight; this one's a fast one, especially when you take your optics off her" Portia purred as she regarded the girl with a sultry smirk. "Well, have a nice day, and be sure to stay out of trouble" she waved goodbye as she scuttled off up the wall and along the ceiling.

As Trailbreaker stashed the blades away in his subspace, Chelsea gawked down at Max in a mix of horror and disbelief: "A MINE FIELD?! YOU TRIED TO CROSS A FUCKING MINE FIELD?!" Chelsea all but screamed again as she jumped off Tangostar's shoulder (much to the femme's alarm) and landed on her feet in front of her sister: "How the fuck could you be so stupid trying to cross a mine field?! Are you totally outta you're fucking mind?! A mine field! As if nearly getting thrown back into Juvi's bad enough, now I gotta worry about my only sister being bought home in a fucking body bag!" she ranted at the top of her voice. But Max simply stared at her, she'd heard it all before, and this was no different; and it simply enraged Chelsea all the more: "You're not even taking me seriously! Jesus Christ Max did even register in your mind that you could DIE?!"

"Probably" Max shrugged

Chelsea slapped her around face hard; but Max hardly even flinched: "GOD DAMN IT MAX! I'm your sister! Don't you even care about how _I'd_ feel if you were gone?!"

"I don't know" Max shrugged again in a rather cool nonchalant manner, "Since you decided I'm not good enough for you anymore, I _really_ don't know what the hell to believe" she shot her an accusing look.

Chelsea blinked in surprise, rather taken aback by the implication: "What the fuck's that supposed to mean?!" she demanded

Max was about to continue, when Veebee came swaggering down the corridor like a modal on the catwalk. "Hey there! I've been looking for you guys everywhere!" she greeted everyone in a cheery sing-song kind of voice.

"Where in Primus's name have you been?!" Trailbreaker demanded, "You were supposed to check in for guardianship duty over an hour ago!"

"Hey it's not my fault my paintwork needed touching up, and Moonshine's an _absolute artist_ when it comes to fine cosmetic work" Veebee stated in a proud matter-of-factly kind of way.

"Moonshine? ..." Jeanie echoed as the mental image of a redneck-type Autobot with buck teeth, a rusting tatty paint-job and a banjo suddenly came to mind. "Not _that_ kinda moonshine" Darren cut her a deadpan frown. Realizing it wasn't the first time that mistake had probably been made; Jeanie quickly dispelled the picture from her mind (and mentally reprimanded herself for the stereotyping); unlike Roxy and Rosy, who were trying to stifle their giggles, and failing badly.

"Your paint-job can wait until the day's work is done! Duty before pleasure is the first rule of being an Autobot! (after the Prime directive)" Trailbreaker reprimanded sternly

"And go on duty looking like a lemon! As if!" Veebee gasped in horror, "I have standards to maintain!"

"Well those standards are _not_ your first concern, not when you're serving on this base!" Trailbreaker added, "Now fall in and keep an optic on those two!" he gestured to Roxy and Rosy. Tangostar transferred the girls to Veebee, who gazed down at them is slight bemusement, wondering what to do; noticing the other humans were on her sisters shoulder's, Veebee unceremoniously dumped the girls on her shoulders (much to their displeasure). While Trailbreaker carefully bent down and picked Max up, "HEY! What!-" she about to protest, but Trailbreaker cut in: "Considering you just tried to escape, I'll think I'll keep an optic on you myself" he stated as he held her in his cupped hands (there was no way in the pit he was letting her sit alongside Darren).

As the black bot took the lead once again, Bluebird and Tangostar turned to Veebee with disapproving frowns; "Seriously Veeb's: a paint touch up?! This is our first day on duty under the great Optimus Prime and you're worried about a lil' paint getting chipped?" Tangostar exclaimed. "Hm! I'd rather be offlined by a swarm of _scraplets_, than go out in public looking like a cheap twenty-second-hand lemon!" Veebee huffed in a deadpanned tone. "You look fine, don't do that again while on duty!" Bluebird reprimanded.

"Pft! As if there's any real emergency around here; there's only, like, _practically one con_ on this entire continent, and he ain't even in fine fighting shape. It's not like the Regulon system, its dead on this spinning rock!" Veebee retorted

"_Not the point!_" Bluebird shot back, "An emergency could shoot up at any time and we have to be prepared for it: we can't do that if we're worrying about our paint-jobs and rims all the time!"

"Pft! Say's you!" Veebee waved off, "First impressions are always important, and if you're gonna face your enemy on the field of battle: you might as well do it looking _fabulous_ darling!" she smiled in a rather sassy tone; a broad grin tugged at Roxy's face: she liked the way this femme was thinking, while Jeanie and the others all stared at the pink femme in amazement, realizing just how similar she was in attitude to Roxy "-After all, beauty such as this _is_ worth flaunting" Veebee added as she swayed her hips and strutted her way down the corridor: electing a few wolf-whistles from the Chevy twins as they sauntered by.

Trailbreaker rolled his optics: "Rookies..." he huffed under his breath; somehow, he just knew this was going to be a long day.

* * *

Elsewhere on the base:

It had been a huge mistake.

In all her wildest dreams, Violet never imaged she would get beaten up by a four year old.

Who the hell was Annabelle? What four year old could fight like a professional wrestler and kick-boxer at the same time? She was insane! And right now she was trying to run as far away from her as she possibly could. As she ran into the storage closet, she was pretty sure she wouldn't find her here: she'd left her behind over twenty minutes ago, and surly she couldn't catch up _that_ fast with her little legs?

She waited and listened, wondering if Annabelle was right outside the door, but after ten minutes of waiting and not hearing anyone come in: Violet cautiously opened the door and stepped out; seeing no one was here, she breathed a sigh of relief.

But she hadn't noticed Annabelle standing behind the open door, and jumped out of her skin when the four year old slammed the door shut.

"Round two!" Annabelle yelled as she chased after Violet, who ran out of the room screaming in terror.

* * *

Elsewhere on the base:

"...Wait for it..." Lizzy whispered as she and Firefly cautiously peered around the corner, watching with glee as their victim approached...

Cliffjumper went to take a seat in front of the computer terminal, and as he sat down, a loud unceremonious fart echoed around the room; every bot and human in the room snapped their heads up in surprise, while Cliffjumper just sat there in a mix of shock and confusion.

Fighting back the laughter that threatened to burst out: Lizzy and Firefly both beat a hasty retreat and ran for some three hundred yards or so, cutting down several corridors before they finally had to stop, and fell over each other in a fit of hysterics. After several minutes of hard laughing, they managed to collect themselves enough to stand up straight and wipe their tears/energon tears away.

"Ooooh Primus! That was _epic!_" Firefly laughed again

"_Uber epic!_ I mean, did you _see_ the look on his face?! He was all like 'what the fuck man, was that me?!'" Lizzy pitched over in another fit of laughter

"Ah slag, that one was the best one yet!" Firefly grinned, "And we're only getting started!"

"Yeah..." Lizzy paused as she recomposed herself, "...But we _could _go way further..." she suggested

Firefly paused: "Go further?" she realized, grinning with wicked eager glee, "How?!"

Lizzy looked up at her with the most mischievous twinkle in her eyes yet, "...We could do the big cheese..." she grinned

"The big cheese? ..." Firefly echoed in confusion, before she suddenly realized who she meant: "...Optimus? OH MY PRIMUS!-"

Now, when it came to pranks being pulled on other Autobots and humans on the base, everyone was in agreement that a little humor every now and then was good for letting off some steam and boosting moral all around. But there _were_ rules, a sort of unofficial 'prankster's code' that kept a measure of order to the shenanigans, and set the bar at what was acceptable and what was not; and the biggest, most stringent of those rules, was that _no one ever_ pranked Optimus Prime, _period_. Now that's not to say the Boss-bot himself wasn't without humor, and he was all for a laugh as much as the next bot: but always within reason, and always when it was appropriate to do so, and if anyone _was_ to pull a prank on him, it would be one of his fellow officers (and even then it wasn't anything too big or crazy); troops were strictly off limits to him, and even the Lambo and Chevy twins knew it.

Unfortunately, Firefly had yet to be clued in on how things go down on this base: and being made aware of the pranksters 'unbreakable' golden rule was one of them. As her mind raced a thousand thoughts a second, ideas on how to get the boss-bot bubbled up in her imagination, each one as juicy and deliciously tempting as the next. The same could be said for Lizzy, as one could practically see all the possibilities twinkling in her eyes.

"..._We would be legends_..." Firefly realized in reverence, "...Our reputations would be etched into the stone of epicness for all eternity"; she then glanced down at Lizzy: "-What do we need?"

"Hmmm? I'm thinking: florescent pink paint, whipped cream, a big-ass bucket, a cannon, sprinkles, and cream pies. A butt-loada cream pies!" Lizzy grinned

"Done" Firefly grinned

* * *

Elsewhere, awhile later:

**: Darren? Where are you? :** Prowl demanded

"Still looking for my AWOL cousins" Darren deadpanned

**: Well hurry up, the hard-drive partitions in sectors B, C and F are still waiting to be done: **the second in command impatiently replied

"Roger that: I'll be down there as soon as I'm done up here" Darren sighed as he deactivated his CTG's comm; "Where the hell are they? The elevator's down and the stairwells are covered; they should be still on this level" he huffed as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Perhaps we should start asking around? The comms are still fine you know? Maybe someone saw them somewhere?" Bluebird suggested

Darren facepalmed: "Why the hell didn't I think of that?" he grumbled under his breath; "Good idea" he replied as he opened the general comm frequency, and addressed the whole base. **: This is Ainsley 205 calling everyone, has anyone seen my cousins about the base? : **

All at once a collective succession of no's and apologies came back over the comm line; sighing in disappointment, Darren gave his thanks and closed the comm;

"...Now what?" Rosy shrugged

"We've been walking around in circles for ages now; face it dweeb, their _long_ gone" Roxy said flippantly

"Correction: _Veebee's_ been doing all the walking, and would it really kill you to actually _try_ helping us out here?" Darren shot her a stern look, "Both me, T, Jeanie, Chelsea and Allie are doing all the work while you two are just sitting up there on your asses!"

"Uh? We're _guests _here remember? And a good host _doesn't_ push his guests around like his personal slaves" Roxy waved off. Darren glared at her with a look of death: her flippant attitude was starting to get on his nerves again; but fortunately Chelsea saved him the trouble: "That's _not the point_ you dumb blonde!"

"Seriously Roxy, what if one or both of them are hurt and they can't call for help?" Jeanie threw in, "Or worse?"

"Pft! Like what?" Roxy rolled her eyes

"Oh I don't know?" Darren sarcastically stated, "The gun-cage being unlocked with all the safety protocols disengaged? The power-grid's protective force field being down for maintenance with over seventy five thousand volts of electricity dangerously exposed? The stasis shields in the brig glitching and frying anything that comes within ten meters of them? Running into Ratchet on one of his bad days? The mine fields around the perimeter fence? The NEST troops conducting _live firing_ practice? The airstrip and any aircraft taking off or landing? The _big-ass Driller_ we got living in the mountain just west of here? The pack of giant hell-hounds roaming the desert, and the snake-cat and cyber-griffin-vulture that like to stalk the shadows in the halls and corridors and are _always_ hungry? The two giant turbo-tigers that'll pounce on anything that moves? The giant three-headed dog that guards the front door? Oh, and did I mention _getting squished under-foot_ ain't particularly nice? ..." he rattled off.

The girls all stared at him, unsure whether to be shocked or horrified. Roxy simply stared at Darren unfazed, before heaving a frustrated sigh and giving in: "Fine, whatever...Where do we look next?"

Pausing to think a moment, he noticed everyone looked a little tired, and looking at his CTG's watch, he hadn't realized just how much time had passed since breakfast. "...Look, why don't we take a breather and go get some lunch?" she suggested in a calmer tone.

No one complained as they voiced their agreements, and so all headed off to the rec-room for a bite to eat.

* * *

In the rec-room:

"Hurry up!" Firefly demanded in a hushed voice

"I know I know! I'm almost done!" Lizzy replied as she finished putting the final touches on their 'prank': "...There! Now we're ready!" she grinned as she took a step back to admire their handy work. "Okay, now all we gotta do is wait. Put me up on that ledge there so I can keep an eye out for him, and as soon as I give the signal, flip the switch and let' er rip, got it?"

"Got it" Firefly nodded as she picked the teenager up by her waist, trotted across the room to part of the suspended walkway, and placed her on an extended ledge that came out of the wall. This ledge acted at a bracket for the walkway; it jutted out to the side of the door, but was just high enough that it didn't fall into any bot's line of sight, and from this angle Lizzy could see anyone approaching via the huge transom window. As she lay down on her front, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, she gave Firefly a thumbs-up, to which the femme nodded and trotted back to her hiding place behind one of the enormous bot-sized couches on the raised lounge-platform in the corner of the room: where she had a good line of sight to the double doors.

Another few minutes passed before a buzzer sounded over the klaxons, announcing the first lunch period, while simultaneously the doors to the rec-room opened automatically; over several minutes both the humans and bots filed towards the mess-area and energon dispensers for their mid-day sustenance, and as everyone took their seats and began eating, refueling and chatting amongst themselves, they were completely oblivious to what had been set up, and what was about to unfold.

As Sideswipe took his seat with his brother at their usual table, he suddenly spotted a tiny black wire running along the wall near the ceiling; following it, he went wide-eyed at the giant vat suspended from the ceiling, right over the double doors (to say it was incredible that no one had spotted it was an understatement, but then, the ceiling of the rec-room _was_ pretty high off the floor). Following the wire back, he saw it led to something sitting on one of the walkway's, something that was hidden from sight by a parachute, all bar the barrel of a cannon sticking out, aimed directly at the door. Another wire leading out of that ran across the wall to the lounge area, where the top of a certain young green femme's helm was just poking over the back of one of the couches.

Realizing she'd been spotted, Firefly froze in a panic, unsure what to do; looking around at the wires and strange contraptions, and putting two and two together: Sideswipe shot her a devious wink, and gave her a discreet thumbs up before turning his attention back to his brother. "Looks like we're going to be getting some lunch-time entertainment" he commented offhand with a sneaky look; knowing what that meant, Sunstreaker smiled contently, "Who's the poor sap?" he asked, "Dunno, but I know who the culprit is" Sideswipe discreetly pointed over his shoulder to the couch. Spotting Firefly and raising an intrigued optic ridge, Sunstreaker positioned himself so he was facing the door; "This. Should be very interesting" he grinned, "Always nice to have a new prankster in the fold: let's see what she's got in mind..." Sideswipe added in equal anticipation as he positioned himself so he could watch both the door: and Firefly at the same time.

"Come on come on, where are you?" Lizzy whispered under her breath, growing impatient as she studied the face of every bot that came into the room; when she suddenly spotted Trailbreaker with Darren on his shoulder, she ducked her head down and preyed neither of them had spotted her. As she heard them chatting as they walked by, she breathed a sigh of relief and resumed her look-out.

After grabbing some lunch and energon, Darren, his cousins and the bots sat down at the table adjacent to the Lambo twins, and ate in relative silence.

"So? When's the security camera's gonna be switched back on?" Allie asked as she took a bite of her sandwich

"It should be sometime around thirteen hundred hours" Darren replied, the girls looked at him confused: "One o' clock?" he clarified; "But in the meantime I wanna know their okay now"

"All those things you said that could kill them; could they really happen?" Rosy asked: there was a slight pause before Darren answered: "Well, when your co-workers are anywhere over ten to fifty times your size and weight, there are gonna be inevitable risks that come with the job"

"Well? Yeah I guess? But what are the chances they don't?"

Darren looked at Rosy before reluctantly replying: "Probably good, if they watch where they step and look before crossing the corridors"

"So what are we worried about?" Roxy wined in a frustrated huff

"Roxy, these are your sisters: it's not _them _I'm worried about" Darren deadpanned, "-It's what their likely to do to everyone else!"

"Well? Big bad-ass bots with thick metal armor and standing high off the ground, what could they possibly do?" Rosy reasoned with a shrug.

Somehow, that didn't reassure Darren's anxiety, and in the pit of his stomach something told him _something _was going to happen...

And it did: at the very moment Lizzy spotted Optimus Prime walking towards the rec-room.

Excited, she looked over to Firefly and raised her hand above her head. Realizing that was the signal to get ready, Firefly took the safety tab off the switch and positioned her thumb over the button...

"Looks like the fun's about to start" Sideswipe grinned in a hushed voice, "Maybe, but check out who her accomplice is..." Sunstreaker pointed to the ledge above the doors; Sideswipe blinked in surprise when he spotted a small human girl with black and bright florescent pink hair trying to hide behind part of the walkway. "Hey? Ain't that one of the humans Prime picked up last night?"; "It is" the golden Lambo grinned, with an excited twinkle in his optics, Sideswipe rubbed his hands with glee, "Ooooh this _will_ be interesting!"

As Prime approached the door, the anticipation shot up as Lizzy waited for just the right moment: "Come on...steady...almost there!"

From her hiding place, Firefly's excitement rose with every foot fall the boss-bot took, he was almost there, just about to clear the door frame...

When suddenly-

"GET BACK HEEEEERE!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over to the door; Prime snapped his head down when he sudden spotted Violet shoot between his feet, being chased by a very angry and very determined Annabelle. The seven year old screamed for help while the honey-blond four year old waved her fists over her head, spouting every (clean) curse she could think off.

At that moment, Lizzy waved her hand down, and Firefly flipped the switch...

Time seemed to slow to a crawl in that one split moment; as Prime rushed forward and bent over to stop the girls, Lizzy watched in horror as she realized he'd moved out of position, and right behind in his place, another much larger femme stepped into the room: right in the line of their trap; but it was too late to stop what happened next...

The vat above the door tipped forward, and a whole deluge of bright florescent pink paint sloshed down on the unsuspecting femme: and splashed onto some of the other bots and humans too; while at the same time the cannon on the walkway fired a succession of ten huge cream pies, right at the femme's face.

Despite the femme not being their intended target, Firefly and Lizzy still burst into a fit laughter, completely oblivious to the fact no one else in the room was laughing: and as Prime stood back up with Violet and Annabelle in both hands, he turned around and blinked in surprise: "Majestrix?" he looked the mess of paint and cream up and down.

As Majestrix stood there, covered head to toe in paint and cream pies; everyone stood there wide-eyed and gawking in utter disbelief. _Someone had just pranked Majestrix Prime_. It was unbelievable, even the Chevy and Lambo twins were at a complete loss for words as they stared on.

As Lizzy and Firefly finally recomposed themselves, Lizzy noticed her sisters gawking up at her, while at the same time Firefly suddenly noticed her sisters gawking at her in a mix of shock and horror...

Suddenly, the mess of paint and cream began to rumble and vibrate, as heat began emanating out, followed by a low, steadily rising growl.

"Run" Darren blurted out in horror

"WHAT'D YOU SAY?" Lizzy called down

"RUUUUUUUUUUUN!"

At that moment, every bot and human in the room ran for the other doors on the opposite side of the mess-area, not stopping or looking back for anything. Even Trailbreaker and the femmes beat a hasty retreat with their charges; realizing something bad was about to go down, Firefly dashed to the wall, retrieved Lizzy, and cleared the room just as an explosion of hot paint and cream went flying everywhere, covering the walls and ceiling: and followed by a loud booming bombardment of cybertronian and human curses.

Majestrix was _pissed, big time_

"Who the hell was that?!" Lizzy called out as she hung onto Firefly tightly

"Dunno, but she sure doesn't have a sense of humor!" Firefly replied as she ran for dear life.

"_Ya think?!_" Lizzy retorted

"Don't panic! We just gotta find somewhere to lie low for awhile: maybe? Five or six hundred years?" the green femme suggested

"Well? With good diet and exercise, I think and I can hold out that long!" Lizzy agreed (thinking she was joking).

"Good! Cuz I know the perfect place!-" Firefly replied. As she rounded a corner, she screeched to halt to avoid crashing into Trailbreaker, Bluebird, Veebee and Tangostar: who were all stood there with their arms folded, shooting her a stern reprimanding look.

"Uhuhuh? Hey guys? What's up?" Firefly sheepishly waved, as Lizzy tried to hide behind her shoulder plate.

* * *

**Oh snap! O_O**

**A/N: Kinda went off script with this chapter: it needed something that was gonna throw things up and about for everyone; and since first impressions are always notable, what better way to set the right impression of Lizzy and Firefly together, than to prank the twin sister of Megatron. It was just way too good to pass up :D**

**I've been kinda off my game of late: doing other stuff has made me distracted, and I can't say I'm 100% back on track; it's at times like these I'm so thankful I drafted the stories before hand, otherwise I'd be totally up the creek without a paddle. The plot and idea bunnies have been growing too much again, and as usual I'm still unsure what to commit to paper: It's a sort of half writers block half...whatever, in any case it won't last (it usually does) and my concentration will get everything back on track again :) Just gotta sit down with pen and paper and sort the bunnies out.**

**Anyway, let me know what you think, and much love to you all! ;)**


	7. Chpt 6: deaf Ears & Breaking Points

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

* * *

LEMONS & CHERRIES

Chapter 6: Deaf Ears & Boiling Points

Tranquility, 6:43pm:

This had not been a good day.

As most bad days go he had his share of them, but in terms of awkwardness and just plain unbelievable incredibility; this ranked way above them all.

As he sat on the kerb outside his garage, he was so lost in his thoughts and guilt that he nearly didn't notice little Bobby Stevenson from number twenty nine across the street, roll up to him on his scooter.

"Hey Mister Ainsbee" the five year old smiled, Peter couldn't help but smile at the mispronunciation of his name: "Watcha' doin?"

"I'm thinking Bobby" he sighed quietly in exhaustion

"About what?" the kid tilted his head to the side in bemusement

"About today"

"What happened today?"

"Oh not a lot really; I just had to tell my brother that my son and his daughters are all cooped up together on a top secret military base that's home to an army of giant alien robots, and that if they don't behave themselves they won't be allowed to come home" he rubbed his face and sighed again, "And of course he didn't believe me, so he's threaded to get the police involved if I don't come clean and tell him the truth"

"But you did tell him the truth, right?" Bobby asked curiously

"...Yes..." Peter held his hands in his head

"Okay...Well? Good luck with that, bye!" he waved happily, and scooted off back to his front yard.

As Peter watched him play with him mom and baby sister on the lawn; his mind raced around trying to figure out what to do. For the first time in a long time he couldn't think straight, which wasn't right for him: usually trying to untangle the complex nature of most problems was his forte, he had a knack for that kind of thing. But this time, he'd hit a brick wall, and _hard_; and he didn't know which way to turn without complicating things even more.

His wife came out and joined him on the kerb, and together they both sat there in silence for a while, equally feeling bad for what had to be said when Will demanded the truth. It was bad enough Peter's brother had to find out what happened to his daughters last night, who knows what went down when he told Lorie about it? Now, they both didn't know what to expect: Will and Lorie coming back and demanding straight answers, or a police cruiser to come rolling up to take them down the local prescient for questioning.

"Darren still hasn't called back" she said offhand in a quiet voice

"..I know" he replied

"Do you think he got our message?"

"Hard to say? Maybe he's not off duty yet? Or pulling a double shift? ...He'll call, I know he will"

"Right" she nodded, hoping he was right.

A long moment of silence passed between them before she changed the subject slightly: "...If they do get the police involved, what'll we do? ..."

Peter looked at her, and for the first time in a very long time, he didn't how to reply.

* * *

NEST Base, 6:45pm:

"This. Sucks..." Firefly huffed as she laid back on her birth, staring up at the ceiling, utterly bored; and knowing she couldn't leave made it all the more mind-numbing.

The day had gone downhill pretty quickly after the failed prank on Optimus.

After Majestrix calmed down and got herself cleaned off: she 'enlightened' the young femme on a few choice things. Giving her a right royal chewing out before issuing her with the punishment of maintenance duty, coupled with compulsory combat training; telling her it would install some much needed discipline and prudence of forethought.

Lizzy, for her part, had been grounded with four guards posted outside her quarters (Major Lennox didn't want to take any chances). And after managing to talk Colonel Bishop out of skinning her alive with a butter knife, it was decided that a much more 'constructive' punishment would be suitable.

Since discipline was the issue at hand for the young teenager, it didn't take long for the Major and Colonel to agree that she should be put through a strict military school-style training regime: ergo, throwing her in with the other NEST rookies, along with Max (for her attempted escape), and Roxy (simply for her flippant arrogance, and tendency to mouth off whenever she felt like it). Bishop was half temped to throw the others in too, but after much pleading and reassurance from Darren that they had no part in the prank, he decided they could be left with their guardians: provided they stay out of trouble.

With Darren being an important asset to NEST's tech team, it was made clear that he couldn't afford to spend his time herding the girls and keeping an eye on them, not when something could go down and he'd be needed to provide online back-up. Bishop gave his assurance that the VW sisters and Trailbreaker would look after his cousins, and even though Darren trusted his guardian and knew he could handle himself with them, the new arrangement didn't sit well with him: not with the promise he'd made to his father still present in the back of his mind.

Prime, for the most part put the prank down to 'rookie's miscalculation' and 'being led astray and giving into impulse', and didn't blow a fuse like Majestrix did (Firefly hadn't been the first rookie to try and prank him, so he took it in his stride); but his decision in agreeing with Bishop was undeniable, and wasn't open for negotiation.

Annoyed, and unable to bring himself to care to do it himself, Darren let Major Lennox undertake the task of presenting Lizzy, Max and Roxy with their training uniforms, and telling them to be on the training ground at 5:00am tomorrow morning, or they'd incur a fate far worse than being thrown in the brig. All the while, Jeanie, Allie, Rosy, Chelsea and Violet could do nothing but stand by and watch.

Darren was so peeved off that he'd hidden himself away in the (still-being cleaned) rec-room, in the one area of the room that didn't get hit by the paint and cream; alone with a half-full can of coke, and his thoughts on the day's events. On the one hand he hadn't been surprised, only Lizzy could think up a prank like _that_: but did it have to be (accidentally, he reminded himself)) pulled on _Majestrix?_ _Of all the bots, it just had to be her._ He didn't trust himself to handle the situation without losing his cool, and probably screwing things up some more; so instead, he sat at the table, and ran through his list options, again...

The footsteps behind him hadn't escaped his notice, and glancing over his shoulder, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was Jeanie.

"Am I intruding?" she asked quietly

"...No, park it here" he offered her the seat across the table; Jeanie sat down, and for a while they didn't talk. They just sat there in equal silence, both aware of how much worse it could've been, and pondering on lay ahead.

"...Is it as bad as it looks?" Jeanie blurted out, Darren looked up at her as she clarified: "I mean-, Majestrix, would she have...you know? ..."

Darren smirked a little, knowing what she was getting at: "...Not really, she just doesn't like to be taken lightly: she _has_ got a reputation to maintain you know?"

"Okay, for a while I thought we-" But Jeanie paused, and shook her head, "-Ah forget it..."

Another silence stretched out between them before Darren asked offhand: "...How're the others?"

"Our three brat-camp recruits? Their just peachy..." Jeanie sighed in a deadpan tone; "Lizzy raised a real stink (unsurprisingly), Roxy is now, probably somewhere between ninety-nine and a hundred on the 'utterly-pissed-off scale', and Max? ...No imagination needed there"

"You can join them"

"Huh?"

"On the training ground, you know? Give moral support, help with stuff; that training's gonna be real tough with the desert heat an' all: they'll need someone to help get them thought it" Darren added

"How long's it gonna last?"Jeanie asked with slight concern in her voice

"I guess? Until they've learnt their lesson: I mean they are technically civilians so it's not like Bishop can push them _all_ the way. But after what happened today I wouldn't bet on him cutting them any slack" Darren sighed as he took a swig of his coke

"How do you feel about it?"

Darren paused, and looked at her with an unreadable gaze.

"Well I mean? It's not like you _weren't_ trying to be responsible or anything like that: and I know you feel it's your job to this for your dad; but seriously, you don't owe us anything"

"...I know..." Darren replied quietly

"Then why the stress?"

"...Because a promise is a promise, regardless of whether you want to do it or not"

Jeanie frowned quizzically, unable to make sense of his logic; Darren drew her attention to his prosthetic left leg: and in a calm, soft voice, he explained: "...One day, years ago when I was much younger, I decided to finally ask my parents what happened the day I lost my leg. Growing up, they told me something bad had happened and that it had to be cut off to save my life, well on this one day, I wanted to know what _really_ happened... And so; they told me about the guy who'd been driving that red Lamborghini, about how he'd been drunk, how he took the corner of our street too hard, mounted the kerb, and crashed into the tree in our front yard: pinning me in between...While I was still in hospital, my parents made arrangements to take the driver to court: they intended to see him thrown in jail for the rest of his natural life, for nearly taking mine...During the legal proceedings, the driver's lawyer met my dad in an attempt to try and persuade him to settle out of court; his family had some serious money and were willing to pay millions to see their son walk free. Enraged, my dad (of course) said no: but when the lawyer tried to persuade him that the money would be, 'a promise to ensure my future' my dad replied that _that_ was no promise...A promise is a form of trust, the highest form of trust there is: and you can only make it so many times before its broken, and can't be fixed...All throughout the whole thing, he _never _once promised me that this would solve what had happened; it wouldn't give me back my leg, it wouldn't undo the trauma it had caused my mom, and it wouldn't make the driver sorry for his crime. All he said he _could_ promise, was that no matter what happened or where life would take me, he would _always_ be there for me; always...Seeing that look in his eyes when he told me that, I knew right there and then that I had no excuses in my life to deny him anything important; and its reason I'm always straight with him about the important stuff (even if it kills me to tell him)"

"...So? What happened to the driver? (If you don't mind me asking)"

"Well, as always, the legal system's never perfect, and when money's involved it's clear who justice tends to favor. The guy got a fourteen month prison sentence with three months probation: and as if that was insulting enough, he didn't get his license revoked. As soon as his probation was up he skipped the country; as far as I'm aware he's still overseas, but honestly I don't care: its ancient history and I ain't interested anyway" Darren waved off

"...So what are you gonna tell your dad?" Jeanie asked; Darren was about to reply when Glen came running into the room: "There you are! I've been lookin' all over for ya dude!" he panted as he tried to get his breath back.

"What's up?" Darren frowned in concern

"It's Jolt: he says yer dad's been tryin' to call you; you better ring him back cuz he's tried to get through like six times today"

Darren didn't say another word as she shot up from his seat and ran for the command center.

"It is serious?" Jeanie asked

"Dunno, but he's been annoying the hell outta Jolt all day" Glen shrugged as he turned to leave.

* * *

Elsewhere on the base:

Chelsea didn't even bother to knock; she already knew Max knew she was outside the door.

Upon entering her quarters, she immediately noticed the green army uniform shoved into the waste paper bin, the itinerary torn up and scattered about the floor, and the words: fuck you written in black marker pen on the wall facing the door. Sitting on her bed, as still as a cat, Max didn't even glance over as Chelsea quietly took a seat at the desk across the room.

For a long time neither sister spoke: and in a way they didn't need to; they'd been so close all their lives that they both knew each other too well. But this was one of those times when something had to be said, if anything to know there was still a connection of sorts...

"What did you mean?" Chelsea asked, the slight hint of bitterness in her voice didn't escape Max's ear

"What?" Max replied ungraciously

"You _know _what I mean" Chelsea cut her a sharp look, "After what happened today, you _don't_ have any excuses to bullshit me with: so tell me, _what did you mean by that remark?_"

Max paused a moment before drawing in breath and replying in an equally bitter tone: "...Ever since we got outta Juvi and got shipped off to our so-called 'long lost family', you seemed to have gotten this idea in your head that somehow, if you eat, sleep, dress and act like them, you're gonna leave your life behind and become a 'better' person"

Chelsea frowned, "Did it ever occur to you that maybe _I_ _want _to be a better person?" she retorted defiantly, "Jesus Max! _I hated Juvi!_ I don't ever what to go back to that shit hole!"

"And what makes you think being around 'them' is gonna help huh?" Max shot back

"Oh I don't know? Maybe because for the first time in our lives since dad died, we've _actually got a shot_ at doing something _better_ with our lives! For God's sake Max I don't wanna go back to living on the streets, crashing in crack and whore houses every night with junkies and sewer rat's for company! And I don't wanna work for Eddy-D anymore: the guy's a sick creep and a bully! I don't care if he pays top dollar for your 'special services', I ain't ever going back to him and his crew!" Chelsea ranted

Max paused a second before continuing, "...The guy's a fucking perv, I'll give you that: but if it wasn't for him we wouldn't be able live so easy, not with that fat idiot keeping an eye on his credit cards and bank details twenty four seven"

"_His name is Will!_ God I wish you wouldn't call him that!" Chelsea spat back, "He's the only other guy in our lives who actually cares about us, and every time he does something nice for us, you go and throw it back in his face!"

"Fucking hell Chelsea-" Max huffed as she sat upright and swung her legs over the side of the bed, "-Did it ever occur to you that he does all those 'nice things' so as to make himself look all innocent and caring? People like him? They don't give kids like us a second glance when they pass us on the street: they just keep their eyes forward so they don't have to look at us, and be reminded of the shit they have to put up with every day when they go to work or go out to get groceries. He only does all that shit so he can score brownie points with family services and the neighbours: the second we're legal adults he'll toss us out...just like mom did"

"Mom wasn't fooling anyone: it was only a matter of time before she got rid of us one way or another. But Will and Lorie _are _different" Chelsea argued

"Oh? The little bitch-squad tell you that?"

Chelsea huffed in frustration, she could tell Max was trying to lead her round in circles, trying to throw her off topic; "...You know? For someone as smart as you, even _you_ know you can't keep this up forever"

Max snapped her head up and looked at her owlishly.

"All the bullshit you've been dealing out over the last three years on me and everyone else was bad enough, but that letter? What the fuck made you think anyone would _actually take it seriously?!_ What the hell possessed you to write it in the first place, and then use it to blackmail Will with? Did you even think of what would happen if the police read it? The damage it would've done to everyone?!" Chelsea argued

"...It's _because of that_, that I wrote it..." Max glared bitterly at her; Chelsea was shocked, but didn't reply as she let her sister continue: "...That letter? It was gonna be a _wake-up call_ for those fuck-tards; they think they can live their perfect little lives without a care in the world? That the rest of the shit that goes down around us every second of every day can't happen to them? I got so sick of it I actually vomited, so I thought it was high time they knew what it mean to have _the whole world _shit on you! It wouldn't mattered if the letter was proved real or not, once you get called a pedo, it's like trying to scrape tar outta silk, it sticks to you for the rest of your life, and no matter how hard you try to leave it behind or deny it ever happened, _it won't go away, ever_...And the fallout? Being the wife or daughter of a pedo is never something to brag about, and it's about time those bitches knew what it means to be society's outcasts; that no matter what you do or who you beg and plead for help, _no one will ever be there for you_..." Another pause passed as Max dropped her gaze, "..._Everyone lies_: everyone's only out for themselves; there's no such thing as kindness, it's just a mask for contempt to hide behind..."

As they both sat there in silence, Chelsea was shocked and appalled; but the bitterness and brittle edge in Max's voice told her that something deep down had hurt her...

Every since she could remember, Max had always been the stronger of the two of them; hard, robust, unfazed and unflinching: she shrugged off every blow that life threw at them, and all the while making sure she was kept out of the firing line. But she knew she wasn't completely as hard and intimidating as she made herself out to be: there were times, on very rare occasions when life got really rough and they were stuck in a rut, she'd see a tear run down her cheek, and although she never sobbed, the hurt always found its way out in her voice.

Kind of like now.

The last three years had been a real learning curve for both of them, which is what made the incredibility of the whole thing all the more unbelievable for Chelsea. Of the two of them Max was the most fearless, she took everything in her stride and never shied away from anything or anyone: her limits were virtually boundless...

But had she been wrong? Were her limits shorter that she thought?

Trying to argue with Max about it wouldn't serve any purpose: whenever she made her mind up about something, she was too damn stubborn to be convinced otherwise. And Chelsea couldn't think of anything that would convince her to listen anyway.

With a sigh of defeat, she got up from the chair and turned to leave the room: "...Just make sure your ready for tomorrow okay?" she quietly added as she opened the door.

"Why even bother? I'm not going through with any fucking boot-camp: they can drag me out by my heels for all I fucking care..." Max snorted

* * *

Several minutes later, in the command center:

"You didn't even hear him come into the kitchen?" Darren raised an eyebrow in dumbfounded bewilderment

: I forgot he had a spare key! I didn't even know he'd be dropping by! : His father protested on the other end of the phone line, : Look, I'm not making excuses here, but he pretty much caught the gist of what I said, it wasn't like I could tell him anything otherwise, so I _had_ to tell him the truth ...I'm so sorry Darren:

Darren rubbed his face and run his fingers through his hair, "... So now he's getting the cops involved?" he asked in a frustrated sigh

: Not right away, he says he wants a straight answer, but I don't know what else I can say that'll be good enough for him, not unless you get back home and set things straight:

"Dad, you know I can't do that"

: I know and I'm sorry for asking: but is there anything you _can_ do from your end? :

Pausing for a moment, Darren looked across the desk at Colonel Bishop, giving him a pleading look; the Colonel regarded him with an unreadable gaze for a moment, as if contemplating his plea, before giving a small discreet nod of approval.

"I'll try and work out something: in the meantime just tell Uncle Will he _will _get a straight answer; he's just gonna have to hang in there and bear with us a little while longer" Darren replied

: Okay, just don't take too long okay? ...See ya son:

"Bye dad" Darren replied before turning his attention back to the Colonel and Major Lennox

"I'll pay them a visit myself, might as well give it to them straight" Bishop said offhand

"What about Galloway?" Darren asked

"I'll call him: let him know what's going down" Will replied

Folding his arms, Darren changed the topic of conversation slightly: "...Listen, not that I'm contesting your decision about throwing Lizzy, Roxy and Max in with the rookies; but if you tell my uncle you're putting them through alien-combat boot-camp, he's gonna flip _big time_...He's never been comfortable with the idea of military discipline, and he's certainly not gonna be all for the girls staying here unnecessarily"

"But they're here for their own protection, he should be made aware of that fact at the very least" Bishop raised a skeptical eyebrow

"Yeah, well? This is _my uncle_ we're talking about: and he's just gonna be outta his mind with worry, and when he worries he tends to overreact, and when he overreacts he can get a little, shall we say? 'Hasty' and 'impatiently aggravated'" Darren state matter-of-factly

"So in other words, he's going to be a tough customer" Will replied offhand

"Pretty much" Darren sighed

"Well? I guess it couldn't hurt to have the parents pay a visit to the base to alleviate their worries?" Bishop thought aloud, "I'll see what can be arranged; in the meantime we've got a Decepticon to find, and you'll be needed in the command center as of tomorrow to help commence online reconnaissance" he stated as he turned to leave

"One other thing" Darren stopped him, "When you told the girls there would be a fate much worse than being thrown in the brig, what _exactly_ did you mean by that?"

Bishop regarded him with a stone hard poker-face for a moment, before replying: "You'll have to ask Majestrix, she said she'd be in charge of the disciplinary procedures. But don't worry: I _did _issue her a copy of the Geneva Convention, she 'should' be aware of how far is 'too far'..." the Colonel smirked as he left the ready-room

"..._'Should'? _..." Darren echoed, unsure what to think of that.

* * *

Elsewhere, a few minutes later:

Lizzy glared daggers up at the ceiling.

She hadn't been on the base twenty four hours, and already these military guys were not taking any chances with her; they grounded her in her quarters with four guards posed outside the door, and the only air vent in the room was barely big enough for a rat to squeeze into, so the possibility of escape was zero. But still, the memory of her and Firefly's prank made her smile; if she didn't get to do anything else or have any form of freedom in this place, at least she could they did _that_.

Firefly

Was she going to be punished too? Was she grounded right now? Was she gonna have to attend boot-camp too? Maybe if they got to attend boot-camp together, it wouldn't be so bad? After all, nothing's as bad as it seems when you've got your best friend at your side.

And Firefly _was _her best friend...probably the only one she'd had in a long time

Lizzy was suddenly pulled from her musings as she heard footsteps approach the door; she heard one of the guards asking what they wanted; recognizing the visitor's voice as Jeanie's, she shot up from the bed and waited for her to enter:

Jeanie stood at the door, contemplating whether to go in or not; and likewise the solders waited, wondering whether she was going to make her mind up or not. At that moment, Darren came striding down the corridor: "Hey" he grabbed her attention, "I just got off the phone with dad"

"What did he want?" Jeanie asked in concern.

Knowing there was no easy to put it: Darren heaved a heavy sigh and came out with it, "...Dad-, _your_ dad, he knows"

"He knows? ..." Jeanie frowned in confusion, before it suddenly clicked into place what he meant: "_He knows?!_"

"Yeah"

"How did he find out?"

"It's complicated, but basically my dad had to come clean and tell him the truth"

"Oh god" Jeanie suddenly realized, "He's never gonna believe him"

"He didn't, which is why Bishop's gonna go and meet him face to face and try and sort things out" Darren added, "All we can hope for is that he calms down enough to actually acknowledge what he has to tell him..."

An awkward silence passed between them for a short moment, before something else came to Jeanie's mind: "...So? Now mom and dad know about all this-" she waved her hands, implying the whole base, "What's it gonna mean for us in the long run?"

"I don't know: I don't wanna don't think that far ahead just yet, let's just concentrate on the here and now, and just worry about how the next few days are gonna pan out" Darren assured her.

"That's-, kinda what I was gonna talk to Lizzy about," Jeanie looked away awkwardly: "After what happened in the mess-hall I had this whole 'why can't you think straight' speech prepared: ...but now that I think about it, I don't know _what_ I can say that'll make her listen. She's never listened to anyone (let alone me) or taken anyone else serious before. It's like, no matter what any of us say, she goes ahead and gets herself into deep shit, and _somehow _still believes that everything will work out fine...It's just; _reckless_" she sighed in exasperation.

"I have to say, she's gotten into,_ and_ out of some pretty bad scrapes and close calls in the past; I'd like to think that today was the day her luck finally ran out. But if that whole incident with Mr Wong's cats is anything to go by, she's probably thinking she can _still _worm her way out somehow...and knowing her, I've no doubt she will" Darren sighed grimly

"What happens if she _does_ try anything?" Jeanie asked in concern

There was a slight pause as Darren dropped his gaze: "...If anyone steps outta line, Majestrix is gonna dealing out the punishments" he replied in a grave tone.

Jeanie blinked in shock, "W-what? Seriously?!" she immediately tried to calm herself down, "You mean Bishop's not gonna be the one overseeing the training?!"

"No" Darren added, "The rookie's _initial _basic training was completed a week ago: from tomorrow Majestrix will be putting them through their paces to see what their _really_ made off". As the memory of the prank in the rec-room replayed in her mind, and the subsequent outburst Majestrix displayed came back to haunt her; somehow, Chopin's funeral march started playing in the back of her mind. "...Oh boy" she thought aloud with dread.

Having overheard everything Darren and Jeanie said from the other side of the door; Lizzy sat there, wide-eyed with dread, and swallowed hard, "...Shit..." she whispered under her breath

* * *

Elsewhere, several minutes later:

Violet sat on the couch bouncing one foot up and down out of boredom: with her plushie still clutched under one arm, she waited, until finally Darren walked in through the door with Jeanie bringing up the rear.

"Hey squirt" he greeted her, "What're you doing in my quarters?"

"Chelsea said she was gonna talk to Max and told me to wait here' till she gets back" Violet replied

"Oh, okay" Darren nodded as he sat down next to her, "We'll wait until she gets back then"

"Is Annabelle anywhere around?" she asked anxiously, clutching her plushie closer to her

"Don't worry, she's getting ready for bed-time" Darren waved her off

"She's crazy!"

"She's our resident ankle-biter: everyone knows not to tick her off" Darren deadpanned, "But more importantly, you _shouldn't _have gone wondering off in the first place! This is a really big base with really big robots with really big feet! What if one of them had accidentally stepped on you?"

"They didn't" Violet stated matter-of-factly

Yes _I know_ they didn't, but what if one of them _did _when you weren't looking?" Darren tried to reason

"I was lookin' where I was goin, so they _didn't_ step on me!" Violet stated a little more firmly.

"I know Violet, but he's _trying_ to explain to you the danger of it: you don't have eyes in the back of your head. You won't be able to watch everything around you every second of every day, sooner or later we all lapse in concentration and accidents _can_ happen"

"They don't happen to me!" she pouted stubbornly

"They _can_, and they _will_ in life" Darren shot back sarcastically

"No they don't!" she retorted

Sensing another tantrum on the horizon, Darren instantly dropped the subject, "Fine, they don't..." and thought of something else he'd been meaning to talk to her, "...Changing the subject: when someone invites you to come play with them, that doesn't mean you can steal their toys from them, that's rude and selfish" he wagged his finger at her.

"But Annabelle hit me! And tried to beat the crap outta me!" Violet wined

"Only because you upset her first" Darren sternly stated, "You didn't even apologize to her: I know what she did was mean, and I assure you she is sorry for doing it, but it _was your fault_ to begin with!"

"Not it wasn't!" Violet angrily shot back

"Okay, if your just gonna say no for the sake of it, I can tell you right now, you're not doing yourself any favours" Darren retorted sarcastically

"Violet, why did you run off in the first place?" Jeanie asked

"Cuz I don't wanna listen to you!" she stubbornly shot at Darren, "I don't listen to anyone! And you can't make me do anything I don't wanna!"

"I can send you to your room and ground you for the remainder of your stay here?" she replied sarcastically

"I don't care! You can't make me!" she angrily stated

"And this is why the neighbors call us the oxy-morons..." Darren sighed under his breath, "Okay, if your gonna take that tone with me, you can forget about being let out of your room"

"I DON'T CARE! I HATE YOU! I DON'T WANNA TALK TO YOU!" the seven year-old screamed and stormed out the room, only to run into Chelsea, who followed her as she marched off down the corridor. Darren and Jeanie both sat there, tired and frustrated.

"Think it's too late to convince Bishop to throw her in with the rookies too?" Darren thought aloud

"I can't be sure, but I think there might be a law that says that comes under the heading of child endangerment" Jeanie replied

"Drat..." Darren deadpanned, "Well I'm outta ideas"

"How about we just give everyone some space? You know, just give it a few days perhaps?" Jeanie reasoned

"...Sounds doable, but I don't know if Bluebird and her sisters can stretch themselves between you guys; they haven't been on earth forty eight hours and this is their first major assignment; I don't wanna push them if they can't do it" Darren pointed out

"Oh yeah..." Jeanie suddenly realized, "...You don't think? Their too young for this, do you?"

Pausing a moment, Darren considered the logic of it: compared to all the other femmes on the base, the VW sisters were definitely younger than all of them; they sort of struck him as teenagers, young, impulsive, easily distracted. Bluebird and Tangostar were the more the mature of the four, while Firefly and Veebee were more inclined to act before thinking. It must make for a trying relationship at times, and in the back of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder if would open the door to other problems. But then, that couldn't be said without taking past predicaments into account...

"...If they are, then this'll be a good learning curve for them. Everybody needs a chance to prove themselves: maybe this'll be the one to determine if their cut out for this planet?" he reasoned with a shrug.

* * *

Elsewhere:

Bluebird didn't know what to say.

She always had good words of advice to offer, but for the first time in goodness knows how many years, she honestly didn't know what to say. As she stared at the door to Firefly's quarters, she couldn't help but feel part of this was her fault somehow.

"Just let her recharge, it's not like she'll feel any differently in the morning" Veebee told her

"Don't go blaming yourself for this: You weren't to know she snuck out" Tangostar reasoned

"...Was I not hard enough?" Bluebird said offhand, her sisters glanced at her quizzically: "Telling her she couldn't become an Autobot until she's older I mean"

"Well it's not like we didn't try?" Veebee shrugged, unsure where she was going with this

"When she came of the legal age we didn't have a say in the matter anymore, and it wasn't like we could force her not to?" Tangostar offered

"...And even then, she was _still_ way too young" Bluebird sighed as she rejoined her sisters at the table and took a swig of energon

"Fly's never been mature for her age, even after all this time I'm still amazed they accepted her into basic training, never mind field training" Veebee commented offhand

"I just wish, _for once_ she would stop goofing around and actually take everything seriously, I know she's impulsive, but would it really kill her to try and exercise some self-restraint?" Bluebird thought aloud

"Maybe this time around the training will do her some good? We're on a base surrounded by some of the most seasoned Autobots in the whole galaxy, at least _one_ of them's gotta get through to her on some level" Tangostar offered

"Yeah I guess?" Bluebird took another swig of her cube, "But you know how she is when it comes to authority"

"I still find _that _unbelievable! Growing up, she wanted to join the Autobots more than anything in the universe, and yet when she finally does, she doesn't like taking orders. I mean, hasn't she learnt by now there's no 'I' in teamwork?" Veebee said offhand

"Apparently not (even though I've told her for the millionth time)" Bluebird deadpanned as she rubbed her forehead

"Look, today was just day one: don't go setting it as the tone for the rest of our stay here. Things change, and by this time next week the whole messy thing will be behind us; Prime didn't take it personally, so don't go making slagheaps outta scrap piles okay?" Tangostar assured her with a pat on the shoulder

"...I hope your right" Bluebird sighed quietly

* * *

Elsewhere:

"Dude, I _still _can't believe that actually went down!" said Miles, "I still can't believe they actually pulled it off" Jazz agreed: "So what time do they start training tomorrow?" the blond teen asked as he leaned forward on his guardian's shoulder. "With the rookies at the usual: I heard Bishop blew a hot fuse over the whole thing, but he managed to keep his cool. I think?" the silver bot shrugged; "Pft! I'm just glad I wasn't there!"

Morri couldn't help but overhear the two friends bantering as they walked by: she heaved a heavy sigh as she approached Roxy's quarters, and after knocking twice, she let herself in. She spotted Roxy on the bed, staring up at the ceiling; although the meeting with Colonel Bishop, Major Lennox and Optimus had been hours ago, she still looked rather pissed off, and was obviously not in an 'negotiable' mood.

"What do you want?" Roxy grumbled, not even bothering to look at her

"I just came to give you your itinerary for the next week" Morri replied, handing her a set of five papers all clipped together with a staple. Looking it over, Roxy promptly threw in the waste paper bin.

"That's not a good idea" Morri added as she bent down and picked the papers out of the bin, giving them a quick dusting off.

"Like I give a fuck" Roxy stated, "Bishop can go screw himself, I didn't pull that fucking prank on Magic-sticks"

"Majestrix" Morri corrected in a deadpan tone

"Whatever: just turn your fat ass around and go tell him I ain't doing it!" she ordered flippantly, but the brunette wasn't put off. "Like it'll make any difference; Bishop's decision is final: what makes you think he's going to roll over and change his mind just for you?" Morri asked frankly. Roxy looked at her, as if dismayed that someone _had the nerve_ to argue back at her, "This is a military base, no one gets any special attention here: and if I may say so, if you intend to drag this out you're only gonna dig yourself into a very deep hole"

Roxy gazed at her a moment before passing a light chuckle: "Yeah, like that's gonna intimidate me"

"Who said anything about intimidating?" Morri stated, "If you don't show up for training tomorrow, Bishop _will_ rip you a new one: and I can tell you he doesn't take kindly _to anyone_ who's tardy or doesn't take things seriously"

"Oh please-" Roxy waved off as she got up off the bed and stood in front of Morri, practically trying to look down on her. But again, Morri wasn't put off, and stood right where she was as Roxy shared her pearls of so-called 'wisdom': "-Let me tell you what's going to go down, _chubby_; Darren's gonna call his dad, tell him what's happened, he's gonna freak out, then he's gonna tell _my_ dad, he'll call our lawyer, and he's gonna _sue the pants off the military's ass_ for keeping me locked up like this! And as for being forced to do unnecessary 'training' and god knows what else? Last time I checked, that pretty much comes under the heading of cruel and usual punishment. So unless you wanna be out of a job and homeless on a street corner somewhere by this time next week: you can just crawl back to Bishop, and tell him to stop fucking me around!"

As Morri studied Roxy eye to eye, the idea of punching her lights out was suddenly quite tempting: but unfortunately common sense was still at the forefront of her mind, as well as her anger being well within her temperament limits. As she tried to think of something to respond to Roxy's statement; she then realized Roxy was being a hundred percent serious. There was no answer she could think off that would really grab Roxy's undivided attention and make her sit up and listen; passing a soft sigh of pity, all Morri could say was: "...My condolences"

Roxy frowned in confusion as she turned to leave the room, placing the inventory on the desk, "Do be sure to pay attention to section three: that one'll save your life...if you're smart enough" she added as she left the room.

Roxy simply stood there with her arms folded, and a smirk on her face, "Yeah right: this time tomorrow, I'm gonna be outta this hell-hole, and going home!" she called after her.

* * *

Five days later:

"I, wanna, go, HOME!" Roxy screeched in a bitter fury as she stared wide-eyed at the state of her once-neatly manicured nails

"For the hundredth time: WE KNOW!-" Lizzy screamed back at her angrily, "-OW! Watch it! That friggin hurt!" she clipped Morri over the back of her head, to which the brunette glared up at her: "If you _didn't keep_ fidgeting it wouldn't hurt so much!" she shot back, "Now stay still so I can put the stitches in!"

As she wined in frustration, she suddenly spotted Darren standing across the med-bay with his arms folded and a stern father-like reprimanding look on his face. Knowing why he was looking at her like that Lizzy let out another frustrated sigh: "Oh don't look at me like that, you know that wasn't the worst thing that ever happened!" she shot at him. He didn't reply...

The last five days had been _anything_ but boring

What had started out as an exercise in discipline and character building had soon descended into a failure of trying to drive home an important message.

The first day was a serious and rudely abrupt wake-up call for Lizzy, Max and Roxy. Unsurprisingly, not one of them was on the training ground at five hundred hours as instructed, so (much to her amusement) Majestrix sent her smaller hell-hounds after them. To have a giant metal monster-dog crash through your door and drag you out of bed in its huge slobbery jaws (by your ankles no less) was certainly enough incentive to get up, get dressed and run hell for leather just to get away from the brutes.

From there, it got worse; a hundred and twenty push-ups followed by fifteen rounds on the assault-course from hell: and with Majestrix barking orders and putting every drill-sergeant on the base to shame, the girls didn't know if they could take much more. And the icing on the cake? They learnt the hard way that whining about it only earned you twenty more push ups.

The second, third and forth days didn't fare much better: more push-ups and more rounds on the assault-course, only now they had to improve their time. And so as a means of giving them and the other rookies 'incentive to improve' their performance, Majestrix let her turbo-tigers have the run of the assault course, letting them chase the humans around to their sparks content. To say no one was injured was a miracle in itself; forget the fact that the girls practically dropped ten pounds each with all the running they had to do.

But all _that_ had been the least of their worries; considering their shared stubbornness, defiance, and self-imposing arrogance: it wasn't surprising they kept getting demotions in their training grades by openly protesting Majestrix's 'barbaric' treatment of them (while at the same time trying to escape). It didn't come as a surprise that none of them got the point, and with every hairy eyeball, dagger glare and escape attempt, they received another lashing of the preverbal whip.

By this point Majestrix's patience had really worn thin with them, and so she decided to really push the bar in an attempt to break their stubbornness. But unbeknown to her, the girls had been pushed to their utmost limits, were now well and truly at their breaking points.

The pot was on the boil, and the fifth day proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back...

The fifth day of training was 'the death-zone', as Majestrix lightly put it: instead of running the course as usually, today's exercise would prove who had the hardest balls of the bunch. The objective was to cross the scrub-land and rocks surrounding the airstrip, and retrieve a flag...a flag that was standing right outside of Geo's burrow. Whoever could get the flag while not waking up the Driller, and return in one piece, won the exercise.

The first three teams that had set out, returned with their flags without a hitch: but when it came to Roxy, Max and Lizzy's turn, the whole thing went completely to pot...

Thirty minutes into the trek across the desert, all the frustration and pent up anger finally boiled over. It started with a snide remark, followed by a less than polite comment, and after a few foul-mouthed observations, the three girls were at each others throats: literally. All the screaming, hollering and cursing echoed out far into the desert, and reached the entrance of Geo's burrow, rudely awaking the driller deep in its lair. Thinking there was an intruder in her territory, the giant worm-like behemoth screeched at a deafening pitch, and took off up out of the burrow, moving in the direction of the sound. To see the giant pissed-off driller coming towards the base threw everyone into a panic: while Majestrix desperately tried to calm her pet down, the other Autobots dashed around trying to pick up every human in the immediate area. All the while Roxy, Max and Lizzy took off like a trio of bats out of hell, trying to get as far away from the driller as they possibly could; before they could go back to trying to throttle each other again.

Once Geo had received a heavy-duty tranquilizer (courtesy of Ratchet) and was adequately pacified, the driller lethargically returned to her burrow, and went back into recharge to sleep the remainder of the drug off. And as they emerged from their hiding places, the humans and bots were left to take in the sight of the beast's rampage...

From there it was back to square one

The girls were given a hard chewing out, confined to their quarter's, and left to stew in their frustrations and attitude; but not before being marched to the med-bay to see to the injuries they sustained during their panicked escape from Geo...

Which brings us up to now: and the stern looks the girls were receiving from most of the other humans in the med-bay. Not that they noticed, and even if they did they didn't care; they just sat on their births glaring at each other from across the room.

Darren left without a word, he had nothing to say, and the look in his eyes told everyone _exactly_ what was on his mind. "HEY! Where the fuck do you think you're going?!" Roxy angrily demanded as she watched his disappear.

"Anywhere away from you!" he called over his shoulder

"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT! You owe me for this!" Roxy screeched again.

Everyone just looked at her disapprovingly

"What the fuck are you losers looking at?!" she snapped, everyone simply returned to their work without a word, while across the other side of the room, Jeanie held her head in her hands, wishing for the earth to swallow her up.

* * *

Much later that evening:

The silence was almost deafening

He didn't think it could be possible, but in a place like this, it apparently can be true.

The grave-yard shift was the quietest time of night on the base, with everyone asleep or recharging and with only a skeleton crew in the security hub and command center. The silence in the corridors was as still as water in a glass. Although he didn't have a night-shift tonight, Darren liked walking down the corridors after hours; the stillness and near-absolute silence soothed his aching mind, as he tried to put his strained and scattered thoughts back in order.

As he approached the human living quarters, he was surprised to see Jeanie sitting with her back to the wall, with a distant look in her eyes. "Hey" he grabbed her attention, snapping her head up in surprise, she realized she hadn't heard him approaching, "Hey" she nodded in greeting, "Couldn't sleep?" she asked.

"...Not really" he said quietly as he sat down beside her.

For a long moment they sat there in complete silence: listening to the distant muffled echoes of various systems whirring and voices talking from other parts of the level. After what felt like an eternity, Darren finally said the first thing that came to mind: "...This isn't working"

"We know..." Chelsea replied as she and Allie both appeared from around the corner, and sat down beside them. "...We were talking earlier, and we kinda thought about what you said five days ago..." she added

"You said that every time we tried to iron out our family issues, it just all falls through and we all end up back at square one, right?" said Allie, "Yeah, that's true" Darren nodded as the memory of said comment came back to mind.

"Well what if try it again? Only this time we commit a hundred percent: no back-outs no excuses, nothing; we all sit down, and deal with the problem" Chelsea explained

"...Easier said than done" Darren sighed

"We know, so what if, before we actually do it, we get them to try and listen"

"How?" Jeanie asked nonplussed

"We-, haven't quite figured that out yet?" Chelsea sheepishly replied

"But Dr Phil always says: the first important step in resolving any conflict is establishing a clear line of communication; all we gotta do is _try_ and figure out a way to get them to talk. Use us as in-betweens if we have to, but as long as we can communicate in a controlled environment, we might just be able to reach neutral ground and build something constructive" Allie pointed out

"...It's a good idea" Darren sighed, "But it won't be enough"

"What? How? " Allie protested

"Yeah, I mean come on, what've we got to lose?" Chelsea concurred

"None, but even then it won't do no good!" Darren sighed in frustration, "...Look, Roxy, Lizzy and Max were at each other's throats while a driller was chasing after them_, a driller!_ That pretty much showed me right there and then just how much they _hate_ each other, (and even then there's nothing new there) and if that's how bad it is-..."

He stopped himself as he rubbed his tired eyes as he sighed, "...Listen: I don't wanna say I'm done with this...But I'm kinda getting there..."

Another grave silence stretched out between them as they tried to think of something...

But no one could think of anything, and so they sat there in silence.

Some way down the corridor, Sam took a step back from where he was listening around the corner, and dropped his gaze in thought as he contemplated their conversation.

At the same time aboard the Black Solstus: Majestrix watched the camera feed of the four cousins sitting together at the entrance to the human living quarters, and listened to their conversation with intrigue; she rubbed her chin out of habit, and pondered on the state of affairs at hand, looking back on the past five days, and wondering if perhaps she'd been too rash?

* * *

**...Yeah, I don't think it can get much worse than this; the next chapter will be a little more toned down as everyone takes a time out.**

**A/N: I was rereading the draft to Lemons & Cherries the other day, and realized that there are some serious modifications to be made, IE, a lot of the dialog was basically the girls arguing the same thing over and over again. As a result of the editing, the story might turn out a lot shorter than I intended; but then that's not actually a bad thing in this case, its the stories after _this_ one that are gonna be addressing the more serious Autobot vs Decepticon vs mysterious forces kinda stuff. In any case, there might be a lot of editing to do for the next 2 stories, we'll just have to wait and see :)**


	8. Chpt 7: Time Out

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

* * *

LEMONS & CHERRIES

Chapter 7: Time Out

Tranquility: 8:48am

"...So? Let me get this straight; _my daughters_, along with my brother's _son_, are being kept at a top secret military facility that's the HQ of some 'transforming alien robots' black ops unit?" Will regarded the Colonel as if he were totally off his rocker.

"That pretty much sums it up Mr Ainsley" Colonel Bishop nodded nonchalantly. Looking around the table for any sign that he was being punked, the looks on everyone's faces quickly told him he'd better start taking the situation seriously; Lorie looked at him in equal shock, and was at a loss for words.

This morning had gone from stressful to downright weird: after five days of waiting and worrying for his daughters, Will was just about at the end of his tether, when not an hour ago a knock on the door revealed his brother Peter and his wife/sister-in-law Pepper, standing there with an Army Colonel and Major. After that, the rest pretty much followed as one would've expected...

"...And? Where are these 'robots?" Will asked cautiously

"There're two of them parked out front right now" the Colonel gestured to the nearby window,

"-There're two parked outside our house too, for protection" Peter added

"Protection? From what?" Will exclaimed

"That, I'm afraid, is where your daughter's come in, Mr Ainsley..." Colonel Bishop sighed, as he leaned back in the chair and explained what happened six days ago.

As Will and Lorie listened intently, the major glanced across the room and noticed today's newspaper sitting on the recliner; the headline grabbed his attention: Tranquility Stalker Strikes Again: Five Found Dead in Alleyway Last Night. And at the back of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder if the cons were the only danger the girls should've been aware of that night.

* * *

NEST base: 10:50am

"MOVE THOSE WHEELS SOLDIER! If this were a battle you'd be scrap by now!" Ironhide barked as Firefly came flying over the dune and crashing into the sand below with a thump!

"Pitiful! A half-starved scraplet can do better than that!" the weapons expert barked again as he blazed ahead, "How long have you been out of shape like this?!"

Revving her engine up, Firefly tried to pull herself out, but the sand was too deep and her tires quickly sank into the base of the dune: thoroughly annoyed, she gunned her engine harder, but to no avail.

"I haven't got all day! Move your aft soldier!" Ironhide bellowed from the top of the next dune

"How about you move your aft and help me outta here!" Firefly hollered angrily

"What was that?!" Ironhide snapped

"I said-"

"I heard what you said! You just earned yourself twenty more miles!

"WHAT! But I-"

"-Ah! If if's and buts were energon candies and screw nuts we'd all have a very merry Primus's day; NOW MOVE IT!"

Transforming and climbing out of the sand, Firefly glared up the Topkick: "For the record, THIS SUCKS!" she yelled before transforming again, and trying to climb the dune.

"Tell it to someone who gives a slag" Ironhide waved off with his wing-mirror, before effortlessly speeding off down the other side of the dune.

* * *

Inside the base, 11:45am:

The base was surprisingly mellow today; although the concern for locating Barricade and his subordinates was still hanging in the air, the overall feeling was something akin to a 'just concentrate on the work and you'll be okay' kind of feeling. And after yesterday's fiasco, concentrating on other things _was the only thing_ keeping everyone's tolerance levels in check: as well as divert any unhealthy stress-related tempers.

It was abundantly clear in the way everyone was behaving, that Roxy, Lizzy, Max and Violet were not particularly welcome outside of their quarters today. From the silent treatment in the mess-area to the cold shoulders in the rec-room: the girls (surprisingly enough) had enough common sense to get the hint that they're presence was not required for anything, or anyone for that matter...

Bluebird, Tangostar and Veebee were all too aware of how everyone was feeling today, and so had made it a priority to keep the girls separated: in different parts of the base (and in range of the security cameras). Bluebird drew the short-straw on Max since she was proving quite elusive (and Bluebird was the more vigilant of the four), Veebee was allotted Roxy, and, Tangostar chose Lizzy, while Violet would be babysat by one of the NEST interns; with their other sisters/cousins elsewhere on the base: the three guardians were left to their own devices, while at the same time trying to keep their charges out of everyone's way.

The storage and housing units down on the bottom level of the base were as devoid of life as the black vacuum of outer space, not a soul was to be found anywhere; a perfect place to keep a would-be escapee in check...

"Where are we now? An underground grave yard?" Max regarded the huge stacks of shipping containers and crates with particular dislike.

"It might as well be, for all the company your likely to find down here I guess? ..." Bluebird shrugged. The two of them walked in silence for a while, before Bluebird's curiosity compelled her to ask: "Can I ask? ...Why do you fight with your cousins all the time?"

"Why is the sky blue?" Max retorted with a shrug: Bluebird looked at her quizzically; "...Cuz they deserve it?" she corrected sarcastically.

"That's not a very 'enlightening' answer: or a legitimate one for that matter" Bluebird replied matter-of-factly

Knowing she was right, Max huffed in frustration and replied: "They fight with me so I fight with them, we've been doing since the day me an' Chelsea went to live with them"

"'Went' to live?'" Bluebird echoed, "You mean you had another place of residence? Where?"

"Juvi" Max replied flatly; a quick scan of the internet revealed it to be the term commonly used to describe a juvenile correctional facility, in other words, a prison for delinquent minors. "You were both incarcerated? What for?" Bluebird asked with a little more concern in her voice.

"Breaking and entering; theft, grand theft auto, drug dealing, and some other shit I can't remember" Max replied nonchalantly

"...How long were you in for?"

"About six months I suppose?"

"You don't seem particularly concerned about it; was it a bad place?"

"Sure it's a shit hole, what'd you expect? It ain't the Ritz you know"

"And you were sent to live with your cousins when you got out? What about your creators? Did they have a say in the matter?"

"Creators?" Max gave Bluebird a weird look

"Oh yeah I forgot, you call them 'parents'?" Bluebird corrected,

"Well, they didn't have much to say: Dad died when we were five, and the second the police told our mom we'd be going to the federal slammer, she packed up and took off. We ain't seen her since" Max shrugged

"That's terrible!" Bluebird exclaimed, "What she didn't even return to say goodbye?!"

"Those are the breaks, parents will do that: as soon as you're old enough to know better, they wipe their hands of you as quick as they can; some just procrastinate longer than others" Max replied coldly

Bluebird looked at her in shock, how could she say such a thing and be alright with it? But then, she _couldn't_ be alright with it surly? She had to wonder what her upbringing must have been like to make those kinds of assumptions the accepted norm of family life. And in the back of her mind she began to imagine the tragedy: and cruelty of it.

"...I lost my cre-, father too" Bluebird said softly

Max looked up at her, but her face revealed nothing. "How?"

"He died, defending his platoon from a Decepticon raiding party"

"A war hero, lucky you" Max shrugged, "What about your mom?"

"...She died too, protecting us from Shockwave's attack forces"

"Shockwave?"

"Never mind, that's another story for another time" Bluebird waved off, "But they both gave their lives for me and my sisters, as well as all their friends; we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them"

"And if they knew they were gonna die, would they have still gone through with it? You know? The whole 'sacrifice yourself so your buddies can live' bullshit?" Max retorted coldly

Bluebird snapped her head down at her with a frown: "Have care youngling! Those are my parents you're talking about! If they had to do it all again, they would, and a thousand's times more if it meant we would live. Sacrifice is _not_ the same as taking the easy way out! Don't confuse it with reckless thrill-seeking!" she scolded her,

But Max was completely unfazed as she kept looking straight ahead: "...Yeah, don't wanna do that huh? Cuz you know, sacrifice ain't the same as suicide" she replied

Bluebird stopped in her tracks: "Suicide?" she echoed in confusion, "What's that gotta do with it?"

Max stopped, and casually turned around to face the femme; as she looked up at her, Bluebird could see no trace of emotion anywhere on her face. But in her eyes, only for a tenth of a second, there was something-...she couldn't put her finger on it, but for that brief moment there wasn't that same coldness as there was before. But as quickly as it flashed by, it was gone in an instant; and Max simply told her: "...Did you know? Back in World War One, you'd be called a hero for getting yourself killed for a bunch of strangers you didn't know; but if you got scared and tried to desert the army, they'd kill you for being a coward?"

Silence

"Funny. How people look at death ain't it?" she added, and simply carried on walking through the storage unit. Bluebird stood there, trying to work out what she meant by that, before she snapped herself from out of her musings and jogged after her. "...What was he like? You're father I mean?" she asked

Another silence passed before Max blankly replied, "...Dunno, don't remember much" she looked up at Bluebird with an annoyed frowned, "What's that gotta do with anything?"

"I'm just curious!" Bluebird offered innocently

"Pft! Yeah right" Max snorted

"Well how can anyone expect to know anything about anyone unless they ask? It's common sense (as long as it's within reason) to do that with people you've only just met" the blue femme explained frankly

"On this world asking too many questions can get you in trouble: or worse; if you're smart you know what people are thinking" Max retorted

"Oh? So what am I thinking right now?" Bluebird smirked

"What?" Max shot her a quizzical look

"Well? You just implied that you're smart, so, what am I thinking right now?"

"That's bullshit!" Max retorted

"It's a legitimate question; or would you rather I believe you to be a hypocrite of sorts because you refuse to answer my question to a statement you made not five seconds ago?" Bluebird replied

No reply came as Max looked away and pretended she hadn't heard her.

Bluebird softened her gaze: "...You'd rather have me believe you're dishonest, as appose to being honest and obliging me with an answer? ..." she asked with a hint of regret in her voice, "...Why let people think badly of you? Wouldn't you rather prove them wrong?" she asked

"Because it's pointless" Max stated coldly

"Why? After yesterday it's not like you got anything to lose?"

"Besides looking like an idiot? No one ever goes to those kinda lengths"

"If it means proving your honestly then why not?" Bluebird shot back,

Max huffed in exasperation as she stopped and looked the femme square in the eye: "Listen, I don't know what everyone around here's told you and I don't know how you guys do things on _your _planet; but here on earth, the whole 'goody-goody' routine is a crock! The biggest one mankind's been playing on itself since the beginning. _People aren't kind_, they don't do good things for each other unless you're willing to do something for them in return; _everyone comes with a price_, and no matter which way you sell it, they _always_ want something in return! They promise you things will be okay, that nothing is ever as bad as it seems: and just when you think it might be true, they whip the carpet out from under your feet and shove you into the gutter before you realize what's happened...The whole 'family' thing? It's just a well-dressed lie: people won't admit it because they say it ain't true? But the truth is, they do it because it's what society _tells_ them to do; they blindly follow the media and politicians, and whatever fucked up bullshit they dish out, and they accept it because they're the so-called 'experts', and no one ever thinks to question them. When you've lived on this planet long enough, you'll soon realize there's nothing special about this place; its one big fucked up mess: I was just smart enough to realize where me and my sister stand in all of it: at the bottom of the shit-pile, along with all the other sewage that no one wants anymore" she explained angrily

"...Is that what the 'experts' told you? Or is that what you've convinced yourself to believe?" Bluebird asked sadly

"What does it matter? It's not like you're any different"

"How?"

"If your parents loved you: _really _loved you, they wouldn't have gone and got themselves killed and left you alone. They would've stayed with you and your sisters, they would've _been there_ for you; instead, they wanted to go an' play hero, and for what? You can't bask in the glory when you're dead! So _don't you dare_ stand there telling me, that you're not any different!"

As Bluebird listened to the girl rant, she found her anger giving way to pity, as she could hear the hurt in her voice; she wondered just how badly her life must have been, to hold such a bleak and cynical outlook on her fellow humans. In a way it reminded her of the neutrals, the ones that had abandoned Cybertron and the war, in favor of trying their luck in the furthest reaches of the galaxy; the bitterness, cynicism and contempt many of them held for the Autobots and Decepticons alike. For all the woe, strife and desolation the war had brought upon them when they never asked for it. Life was never straightforward for anyone, but to encounter so much misery and betrayal to the point it snuffed out any inkling of hope? She couldn't comprehend it, and as such she felt like she had no right to argue back, not when the idea of daring to wish for something better just wasn't there...

But then, did Max have _any_ hope? Was there once a time in her young life, when she looked at everything around her and wished for something more? For a moment Bluebird hoped it had been so: but as she listened to Max and the anger, bitterness, cynicism and contempt she was spewing out; it was clear that whatever hope had been there, died a long time ago.

Max carried on walking, retreating back into her cold shell, Bluebird followed her a little way behind: wondering and speculating, what if anything could be done for her?

* * *

At the same time, in the mess-area:

"Hey! There_ are_ other people on this base you know!" Glen put his hands squarely on his hips as he watched Ashley munch into a whole side of glazed ham that he'd pilfered from the kitchens, "Can't help it! I'm bloody hungry!" Ashley grumbled with half a mouth full of meat in one cheek: rolling his eyes in exasperation, Glen waved him off and walked away, he couldn't be asked to argue with him today.

As the human/cybertronian hybrid continued to eat his 'brunch', across the opposite side of the mess-area, on the side that boarded onto the rec-room: Chelsea sat alone, watching the hybrid eat in morbid curiosity: 'three roast chickens, two sides of beef and a whole leg of ham? How does he put it away like that?' she though offhand with slight disgust.

She nearly jumped when Mikaela passed by: "Oh, sorry, did I interrupt you?" she asked politely; "Uh, no, I just-, I was kinda-" Chelsea pointed to Ashley.

"Oh yeah, don't worry about him, he's always hungry" Mikaela waved off with a smile, "...Are you by yourself?" she looked around, realizing none of her cousins or sister were in the mess-area.

"Kinda, after yesterday I'm just giving Max her space" Chelsea admitted sheepishly

"She's not on this level is she?"

"Nah, she's with Bluebird down below" Chelsea waved off, and then stopped suddenly, when she realized Mikaela wasn't being snide or rude:"...Wait, you're actually being _nice _to me?" she asked in bemusement.

Puzzled, and now curious, Mikaela sat down opposite her at the table; "What'd you mean?" she asked

"It's just-, aside from Jeanie, Allie and Darren and my uncle Will and Aunt Lorie, no one else really talks to me without mistaking me for my sister or thinking I'm _as bad_ as my sister; they don't really stop to think 'hey, maybe she's different?'...kinda like yesterday you know?"

"...Oh..." Mikaela realized sheepishly, "Look, I can tell you're not like Max, and to be honest? I'm sorry if I gave the impression I thought badly of you before-, it's just..."

"Just what?" Chelsea pressed her curiously

"Ah, old habits I guess?" Mikaela shrugged, "Sometimes it's easy to forget that you're not your family. And it's easier to assume rather than take the time to get to know you"

"Well? I ain't going anywhere, and if everyone's still giving us the cold-shoulder I won't be (not until its bedtime anyway)" Chelsea shrugged offhand.

"I've been meaning to ask-" Mikaela changed the subject slightly: ", I don't know how many times you've been asked this and I'm sorry if it's the umpteenth. But how do you put up with her?

Knowing full well who she was referring to, Chelsea sighed as she dropped her gaze to the table and propped her head on her elbow: "...To be honest I sometimes wonder why I still hang around with her; but when I remember all the fucked up shit we've been through together, and all the promises we made that we'd look out for one another now and always? I remember why I held up my end of those promises in the first place" she thought aloud, before getting to the point: "...Some people have it lucky, their born to good luck, and others aren't, I accept that's the way the world works (as unfair as it is) that's just life, and it's no one fault for it being so. But sometimes you can't help _but_ wonder if you did something to_ really _piss off God in a previous life, for all the shit you're made to endure in this one"

"Had it rough huh?"

"Hm, and then some..." Chelsea thought aloud, "...Dad hanged himself when we were both five, and mom went more downhill than before after that. Stayed up drinking and shooting the crack most nights, and when she was angry she used to take it out on us; other times she'd bring home a new boyfriend every other month, each as bad as the last: and sometimes-...it wasn't always _her_, they wanted to 'feel up'..."

Silence

"What? ...You mean they-"

"-Oh god no! No it never went that far (though not for lack of trying when mom was passed out on the couch). We learnt very quickly to get outta the house before they got home, and when we did slip away we had nowhere else to go except the streets"

"...Damn...and I thought I had it bad growing up" Mikaela sighed soberly

"Your mom was-, 'outta sorts' too?" Chelsea asked cautiously

"Nah-, my mom took off not long after I was born so I don't even remember her" she waved off, "My dad, has a real thing for motors: a real grease monkey through and through, and it's because of him I know so much about cars...Trouble was, growing up, he kinda fell in with a bad crowd and got in the habit of stealing motors for parts and the like"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, and he couldn't really afford a babysitter so he used to take me along"

"No kidding" Chelsea blinked in surprised, "So? You actually learnt how to steal cars?"

Mikaela thought her reply over carefully, before thinking to hell with it and sheepishly replied: "...Basically yeah, I mean-, we both knew it was wrong; but we figured 'hey it's not like we're buying crack or anything'. And dad _always_ used the money to put food on the table and pay the rent. It still didn't make it right I know, but, when you're growing up in those kinda hard circumstances? With no other options open to you? What are you supposed to do you know?"

"Yeah..." Chelsea nodded, "...I can remember when we stole our first car, a VW van: pretty sweet little thing too; god I was so scared we'd get caught. It's always the first that give you that little thrill you know? And when you realize you got away with it, ah if feels so great" she thought aloud nostalgically

"I know! I remember the first time me and dad swiped a Peterbuilt from an impound, and we-"

Looking at each other, the girls suddenly realized this probably wasn't the best topic of conversation to get enthusiastic about, and with an awkward sigh: they promptly dropped the subject.

"Um? Anyway ...We learnt real quick how to do all kinds of stuff to get money and food: steal credit cards, purses and wallets. And when we got older we 'broadened our skill-set' to include other stuff; we sometimes worked as couriers for the gang that owns little china town. Stole stuff for them, pretty much anything that had a big price tag on it...It was like that for years, until one night someone ratted us out to the cops and we got busted" Chelsea continued

"What happened?"

"Six months in Juvi happened: but the night the cops caught us, and called mom to tell her to come to the station; she packed up and skipped town"

"What-, Seriously?"

"Didn't even stop to say good bye..." she thought aloud offhand, "But then, as if that were hard to take, two weeks before our sentence was up family services paid up a visit, told us they'd found our dad's family: our uncle, aunt, and cousins, that we knew nothing about"

"Wait-, so in all that time, and with your mom-, 'the way she was', no one in family services thought to look into it?" Mikaela asked, somewhat taken aback.

A brief silence stretched out before Chelsea explained"...Growing up, there were these two old ladies who lived right next door to us: Misses Lichfield and Misses Bates. They were real nice, used to let us crush with them when mom was in one of her moods. Misses Lichfield used to call family services, like five maybe seven times a day and tell them exactly what mom used to get up to at the worst of times...Finally, one day, mom got a call from family services, telling her they were coming over to check out the house; we thought that would be it you know? That once they'd see the mess we had to live in they'd haul her ass down town and rip her a new one. The day the 'family services lady' came, she hung around for about an hour, talked to mom about stuff: and then left...a month later another lady turns up and goes, and then another about two weeks after that, and another about a month after that. And it wasn't until about six month later, that we realized _no one_ was coming back, or going to do _anything _for that matter...Poor Misses Lichfield passed away after a heart-attack when we turned six, and soon after that Misses Bates family came to take her to an old people's home: and they only allowed family in at that place...After that we had no one but each other, we never heard from family services again until we were in juvi: and when uncle Will asked how the hell they forgot about us, they simply said 'we're sorry but the paperwork must have been misplaced'..._Four people_ came to our house, four people _knew_ we existed: but no one said anything; and to this day, I still sometimes wonder why, you know? ... "

"...I know they say the system's not perfect, but just _unacceptable_" Mikaela shook her head in dismay.

"I don't like to ponder on it anymore, it just makes me too pissed off, and then I just get stuck venting over it. That kinda anger's not healthy" Chelsea added, "I _hated_ juvi, I mean talk about a reality check: so I guess you could say I took the discovery of our 'long lost family' as a sign; that maybe I _could_ have a second chance at life you know? And when I realized I didn't have to steal for a living, I made up my mind that I was gonna give it a real shot"

"That's great, but I take it Max didn't feel the same way?"

"Max-...has always looked at the glass half-empty; she's always been way more resentful of the world and everyone in it..." Chelsea explained in a soberly awkward manner, "Of the two of us mom used to pick on her the most, and I think she stills carries a lot of anger from that. As well as everything else...She still expects everyone to turn on her, and maybe even me? I don't know, she doesn't let me near her anymore, not since we went to live with our family"

"I daren't even ask how day one went" Mikaela cringed a little,

Chelsea couldn't help but smile, before turning sombre again: "The thing with Max is that she's always had this view that society as a whole is one big bunch of bullshit, and that Will and his family pretty much fit the mold for it. For the first few months it was world war three every day, and hell even I wasn't comfortable at first: but after our parole officer ordered us all to attend family counseling things were actually okay for the next two years. Max's views didn't change and she'd still try to piss us all off when she felt like it (Roxy too if she knew she could get away with it); but it wasn't intense or strained you know? There was a level of mutual tolerance. And then-" she paused with a downcast look in her eyes.

"Then what?"

"...Something, 'personal' happened, and we all went back to square one: only this time it was way worse..." Chelsea sighed.

Deciding not to pry, Mikaela didn't press her; "...Well? After yesterday, I don't know how much worse it could possibly get?" was all she could offer, "But then, Max wasn't the only one"

"I know, that's what makes it so difficult..." Chelsea huffed, "See, ever since Uncle Will found out about us, about his brother-, my dad passing away, the way he did? He's been on this massive guilt trip, blaming himself and being constantly pissed at family services for not telling him about it sooner. I dunno what the story behind it is, all I can gather is that something happened when they were kids and they had to be split up for some reason? He won't talk with anyone about it"

"For some people, some memories are just too painful to talk about" Mikaela offered

"I know, but sometimes? I can't help but wonder if Uncle Will's memories might be part of the cause of our family problems?" Chelsea thought aloud offhand

"How'd you mean?"

"Ah it's complicated, and way too long to go into detail about" Chelsea waved off, "Besides, I don't know if it's the kinda thing I should talk about with just anyone?"

"Fair enough..." Mikaela nodded,

"...You know? You're real easy to talk to" Chelsea smiled

"Really?" Mikaela tilted her head to the side.

"Well? You're the first person outside my family who's not blown me off: That's-, kind of a big deal for me, so thank you"

Feeling flattered, Mikaela smiled and asked: "Listen, they'll be calling lunch is in five minutes; do you want to join me?"

"Uh?, Sure...yeah!" Chelsea smiled enthusiastically.

* * *

In the second level hanger:

"I still can't believe that thing turns into a trailer" Jeanie said offhand as she gazed up at Prime battle-station, "But then, it does make sense: the whole hiding in plain sight thing? For you guys I guess it's a mandatory requirement?"

"The thing with hiding in plain sight, is to make sure you're disguise is as humdrum as possible; you don't want to stand out" Deathshot explained, "...Unlike _some_ people" he deadpanned when he caught sight of the Lambo twins admiring their reflections in the side of one of Prime's trailers.

"Huh" Jeanie nodded, "But what's with the other five trailers? Isn't one enough?" she asked, thumbing over to the other five trailers sitting in a row next to a couple of hummers.

"Oh, it's a little project Moonshine's got going on" Morri replied as she looked up from her work, "She said 'Different battle scenarios call for different tactics, and as such, one has to be prepared to meet them the right way'. Those battle stations are each equipped with a different mode, each best suited to handling various terrains and environments; the one _you_ encountered six days ago was the standard prototype, _these_ are its sisters, the advanced models" she gestured to the trailers.

"So? Like, they all come equipped with different weapons?" Jeanie asked

"Hm? Well not exactly, some of them actually transform into different things" Morri replied

"Like what?"

"Can't say: I haven't seen them in action yet; but Moonshine's been really enthusiastic about them so I guess they're packing some real heat" the brunette shrugged. Jeanie was about to say something else when Allie came out from around the side of one of the trailers. "It's incredible, there's just-, nothing out of place!" she breathed in amazement.

"Well? Hiding in plain sight _does_ mean having to pay attention to detail" Deathshot raised an optic ridge

"Oh yeah" Allie realized sheepishly, "Sorry"

"Yo! What up?" Darren called over as he entered the hanger, with Trailbreaker bringing up the rear.

"You're early" Deathshot observed

"I had an early lunch: thought I'd get a start on those diagnostics now" he replied as Morri handed him a data-pad with a list of figures scrolling down the screen, while Trailbreaker got to work on a stack of bot-sized data-pads that Deathshot handed to him. "Its lunch time if you girls want to grab a bite to eat?" he glanced over at his cousins.

Jeanie and Allie both looked at one another unsurely: "To be honest? I'm not so sure I'm hungry?" Allie replied. Darren looked up at her from the data-pad, something about the anxiety in her voice told him what might be on her mind: "...You're worried Max or Roxy might be up there?"

Allie looked away, uncomfortable with answering the question.

"It's okay" Darren offered, "I'll call Glen, ask him to order something outta the canteen"

"They're still angry at you?" Deathshot raised a quizzical optic ridge.

"Not them, me" Darren replied, "Somehow, they got it in their heads that all this is my fault; and maybe to some degree it is? I didn't protest against Prime and Bishop's ruling to throw them in with the rookies, but then? It's not like they didn't need a kick in the ass to bring them back to reality (for all the good _that _did), after all the shit they'd been giving me and everyone else" he explained in a flat emotionless tone.

"You don't sound certain of yourself" Morri observed, "Are you sure of how you really feel about it?"

"Well how the hell am I _supposed_ to feel about it?!" Darren exclaimed in frustration, "First, my cousins have to find out that I work here: two, they treat it like the vacation from hell, and three, they go and make things worse! And_ I'm_ expected to pick up the pieces and make everything okay? When they're the ones who're at fault! I mean, _what the hell_ kinda question is that?!"

An awkward silence briefly flitted by as Darren took a deep calming breath and shook his head in regret: "...I'm sorry...I didn't mean it like that" he added quietly.

"This isn't your fault" Morri placed a hand on his shoulder, "You can't push yourself like this: you won't do anyone any favours"

"I know" Darren nodded, "But _they_ don't make it easy" he added with a slight hint of bitterness in his voice.

"I'm curious..." Morri frowned slightly in bemusement, "Given Max's background I can understand where _her_ anger comes from, but Roxy? I don't quite _get_ her: she's not from a wealthy or prestigious family, yet she behaves like she's owns the place. Presuming her parents aren't the pretentious types (and I highly doubt they are) to give off vibes of superiority towards others; her attitude is somewhat out of place for your family's overall profile"

Darren looked at her in slight surprise, before smiling: "You don't miss anything do you?" Jeanie and Allie however, were more taken aback: "Whoa, what are you a shrink?" Allie looked at her weirdly. "Nah, she's just got a real sharp eye" Darren replied, "And a damn uncanny knack for figuring out how people think..."

Morri smiled but didn't say anything (she was much too modest), and listened as Jeanie explained: "Roxy-, I guess you could say has always been in a kinda denial. Growing up, money was always tight so we couldn't always afford new clothes and stuff: so we had to rely on hand-me-downs most of the time. Which, after enough wear-and-tear got real old and tatty, and some days we'd go to school looking like we'd been sleeping on the street. Unsurprisingly the kids whose parents could afford nice things used to pick on us for it (not that it bothered me, I never paid any attention to that kinda thing), but it pissed Roxy off to no end, and she couldn't stomach being seen as poor. So when she started high-school Roxy made herself out to be one of the in-clique: spent a fortune passing herself off as a rich kid, and all throughout her high-school years she _actually had_ everyone believing she was from Beverly Hills; I don't think anyone found out who she really was you know?" she explained

"Yeah, even in college she managed to pull it off" Allie threw in

"But that kind of lifestyle wouldn't have been cheap: how did she afford it?" Morri asked

"Dad's credit card at first, but when he banned her from using those she quickly found alternative means through her boyfriends and 'casual acquaintances'. She's always had a knack for sweet-talking guys into getting them to do whatever she wanted of them. Darren's probably _the only_ guy in the world who can right through her 'poor little rich girl' routine" Jeanie explained

"Couldn't she just get a job and earn her own income?" Deathshot asked

"And risk being seen waiting tables by one of the in-crowd? When she'd bragged enough times about having _her own_ staff?" Jeanie deadpanned

"Oh"

"She's utterly unscrupulous" Darren frowned, "Doesn't care about anyone but herself, and has no shame in using someone, or _anyone _as a means to an end"

"The reason she hasn't gone completely off the deep end is that Lizzy is still able to blackmail her when she needs something: and Max," Jeanie threw in, "When she came into the picture everything changed: she saw right through her, and I think on some level Roxy _knew_ she wasn't going to fool her, but she _still_ kept up the act regardless, which doesn't make any sense when you think about it"

"No it doesn't" Morri frowned in confusion

"I always thought it was because she still doesn't believe that Max and Chelsea are our cousins? Despite what the paternity tests prove" Allie thought aloud

"Paternity tests?" Deathshot echoed

"The first year Max and Chelsea spent with us, the fighting got so bad that dad actually took out a paternity test on all of us to prove they were real blood relations. Which they were: when the tests proved we all have the same biological grandfather. But regardless, both Max and Roxy refused to believe it" Jeanie explained

"Despite what she says: Roxy doesn't hate Max because she's an interloper, I think she hates her, because she's not comfortable with the idea of it" Darren said

"What do you mean?" Deathshot frowned

Sighing in mental exhaustion, Darren explained: "...On some deep-seated level, she's not comfortable with the idea of these 'long lost' cousins turning up outta the blue, with practically no back-story as to how they came to be..."he paused before shaking his head, "...Something's gotta give: it can't carry on forever" he thought aloud.

"What can't?" Morri asked, wondering where he was going with this,

The three cousins/sisters all looked at one another, before Jeanie awkwardly explained: "...Three years ago, when family services first called to tell us about Max and Chelsea, Darren had cockroaches in his kitchen, so while his house was being fumigated he and his parents crashed over at our place. One night, we were sneaking downstairs to grab a late-night snack when we both overheard my parents talking, or, arguing rather; mom demanded to know why she had two nieces she never heard of until then, and as we listened, that's when dad told her everything...When he was a kid, my dad was the eldest of three brothers, Peter (Darren's dad) was the middle child, and Andrew (Max and Chelsea's dad) was the youngest; growing up, their dad Frank (our grandfather) was-, well? For lack of a better description, a heartless bigoted bastard who was constantly drunk and beat his wife and kids to a pulp whenever his temper got up. Finally, after years of living in fear our grandma wouldn't take any more, and so after moving out she filed for divorce. But back then the courts weren't as sympathetic towards the mother as they are now: and part of the settlement stated that Andrew had to stay with his dad. To say that Grandma and his brothers weren't pissed and horrified was an understatement, there were numerous times they tried to get him back, even rescue him in the dead of night when Frank was out drinking. They came close once, but Frank found them out and nearly all but killed Grandma when he tried to beat her to death with a baseball bat that had nails sticking out the sides. He moved away after that, with no forwarding address of course, and with Andrew in tow; Grandma spent a fortune in hiring privet investigators to track them down, but it was no use: no one knew where they had gone...For years after that, my dad and uncle Peter grew up wondering and worrying about Andrew. Where he was, if he was still alive at all? He said there wasn't a day went by they didn't think about him, and if he still remembered them..."

Morri and Deathshot both glanced at each other, "...So? What happened to your Grandmother?" the sniper asked

Another uncomfortable pause, before Jeanie replied, "...She passed away about seven years ago: at the time dad told us she'd had a weak heart. But in truth? I believed she died because her heart had been broken a long time ago: it just took the rest of her time to catch up, though I never knew why? Until that night dad told mom, and suddenly it made sense"

"She was never really a happy kinda person: even when we used to go and visit her on her birthday, she always had that far-off depressed look in her eyes..." Allie thought aloud, "We never knew about Frank, or Andrew, or all that stuff that went down until that night Darren and Jeanie overheard dad"

"And in all that time, you're dad never told you anything?" Morri asked

"The morning after I asked my dad about it, and he pretty much confirmed all of what Uncle Will had said, and told me everything as it had happened" Darren explained, "After that he made me swear _never_ to talk about it with anyone outside the family; _not_ because of shame or embarrassment, but because outta all of them, Uncle Will had more issues dealing with it, and he didn't want people giving him unnecessary sympathy. He didn't want it because it wouldn't bring Andrew back"

"I thought about asking my dad about it? But after seeing the way he got choked up about it, I decided to leave it alone, for fear of dragging up more hurt" Jeanie threw in,

"When I asked why, my dad said that, even though uncle Wills put most of it behind him, he still carries a lot of guilt and resentment for not doing enough to get Andrew away from Frank when he had the chance..." Darren added, "Look, don't get me wrong: he doesn't wallow in self-pity all the time and he certainly doesn't suffer from depression; it's just that-, when _that one subject_ crops up, he just doesn't know how to handle it"

"Dad's a great guy: but he's never been good at getting his emotional priorities in order; when handling a bad situation he concentrates too much on the details, on the little insignificant things when he should be looking at the broader picture. He's never been decisive enough, and has a bad tendency to procrastinate more than he should" Jeanie explained ruefully

"Have you tried confronting him with this?" Morri asked

"Yeah, more than once: and it's not like he's in denial and_ won't_ talk about it, it's just that-, with Roxy and Max's stand-off's constantly keeping everyone on edge, he doesn't know what to say that'll get both their attention _and _make them listen. I mean _really _listen" Allie added

"I think? With all the stuff that's gone down over the last six days, dad _has _to know (on some level at least) that it's at the point where he's gonna have to sit down with all of us and _tell us_ why he's been so 'all over the place' since Max and Chelsea moved in" Jeanie sighed, "Contrary to what Roxy say's, Max and Chelsea aren't the problem, it's dad who's been unconsciously creating all the stress"

"I can understand that: and the risk of sounding naive, how does his inability to be open about his issues have a knock-on effect with the rest of the family?" Deathshot asked

"It's the little things, the ones that, on their own are confusing to get your head around: but when you look at the bigger picture and see how they connect to one another, you realize it's so simple that no one saw it. One of dad's biggest fears is history repeating itself, and it shows: he's worried that if he discipline's Roxy too hard he'll somehow come off more like his dad, so he puts up with her pretentious attitude (the same goes for Lizzy and Violet). Max and Chelsea are the only physical links he has left to his little brother, so he doesn't want to let go of them, and especially not when he feels like he has an obligation to Andrew to look after and protect them; everything and everyone else? He's trying to balance out while at the same time trying not to lose his grip on it. But he's only compounding it more by failing to see the knock-on effects Roxy and Max's fights have on everyone else: with mom and dad trying to referee them Lizzy knows she won't be caught so easily, so she's got a lot more freedom to do whatever she wants and _knows _she's got a much higher percentage of getting away with it. And with the fights sometimes getting outta hand, Violet's kinda been left on the sidelines, so of course she's acting out as a subliminal means to try and win mom and dad's attentions back...So far, they've been too preoccupied to really notice, which leaves me and Allie babysitting more than anything else..." Jeanie explained, "...Not so straightforward is it?"

The sniper contemplated her words for moment: "...No, and in a way, I cannot help but construed your father as a little bit selfish"

"Yeah, I thought that too a while back; but the more I actually thought about it, and took a closer look at what was going on: I realized there's a lot that goes on in our house that he doesn't see. Not for lack of trying, he just doesn't know how listen as well as he should..." Jeanie replied sheepishly, she was all too aware of the irony of it, and in the back of her mind she cursed at it.

"...If I may ask, what happened to Andrew? Did you ever hear from him?" Morri asked

"The next time dad and uncle Will heard of Andrew, was when family services called us to say they had his daughters locked up in Juvi, and that the state would be allotting custody of them to him. When he demanded to know what happened to Andrew, they told him he _hanged himself_ over a decade ago, and that the paperwork 'somehow' got lost and they didn't have any means of contacting him in order to inform us" Darren replied with an ounce of bitterness,

"Dad all but went postal when they told him that, he threatened to take them to court and sue them for what had happened: but after realizing the cost of the legal fees involved, mom managed to talk him out of it" Jeanie added, "...You know? We didn't even get _an apology_ from them? We only had one follow-up visit from a social worker, one visit from Max and Chelsea's parole officer, and that was it: no one called no one showed up again. It's like they didn't want to know anymore, we were real blood family so hey, problem solved right? ... I can understand Max's cynicism towards the system in _that_ respect and I don't blame that side her anger for it. But more often than not I can't help but wonder who the hell recruits the wrong people into that kinda profession? Don't get me wrong, I know there're people in family services that're in that job because they want to do real good, and _actually help_ families in need. But there are _so very few_ of them, and not enough for what this state, and this country requires...You know? I can't help but think, if money and financial demographics were taken outta the picture, it'd be a very different story"

"That, I have no doubt would be true..." Morri nodded in agreement: "...You know? It occurred to me a while back; you tend to hear about 'the down side' of family services in the news; you know: kids being placed with less than capable foster parents, not evidence to convict on abusive spouses and parents and the like. But what about the success stories? The times when the system _actually_ works: I can't help but think if they got headlined on the evening news more often, perhaps they wouldn't get such a bad rapping over the knuckles in the court of public opinion all the time?"

"...Yeah I guess?" Darren replied quietly, "...But even so, the reality is we had family out there we didn't even know existed. Family services _knew about them, _they _were_ on their records: they _knew _about Andrew and his daughters, _and_ what their mother was like. I don't care if the paper work was lost by accident, it _shouldn't_ have been handled so sloppily in the first place: and they should _never _have been so quick to wipe their hands clean off them when they palmed them off to us. Just because we're blood doesn't mean it's a quick fix and that'll it all go away; for the stupidity and lack of concern of a handful of individuals, the system let us _all_ down" he said bitterly

"...But that was three years ago" Jeanie reminded him softly

"Yeah..." thought about it, "...You're right. So the question we all face now, is how the hell to do we pick ourselves up from yesterday?"

As Darren and the others continued to chat: outside the hanger, Majestrix listened in silence and instinctively stroked her chin in thought, as she contemplated all that she had heard. Inside the hanger, behind one of the M1 Abrams tanks, Rosy sat with her knees tucked under her chin, feeling rather ashamed as she contemplated what her cousin/sisters just said...

* * *

Outside the human living quarters:

"You finally decided to come outta your room?" Veebee raised a quizzical optic ridge at Roxy; the pale ash blond looked up at her with a slight look of contempt, but let it go with a sigh as she sat herself down on one of the stairs leading up to the suspended walkways. "Hey uh that's great, you know? Cuz, I didn't know how often you humans needed to refuel" the pink femme added sheepishly.

"I'm not hungry" Roxy grumbled flatly

"But you've not even had breakfast today"

"Don't care"

Softening her tone, Veebee cautiously asked: "...Is this about yesterday?"

"What do you think?" Roxy cut her a sharp look

"Look, if you're worried people giving you the cold knee-joint I can tell them to go frag off?" she offered

"Cold shoulder" Roxy corrected, "And no, I don't need anyone standing up for me"

"You sure about that? Cuz, you know? After yesterday there aren't many people on this base willing to do anything for you, besides your cousin" Veebee pointed out, but Roxy didn't reply. Clearly there was something playing her mind, so Veebee sat down in front of the staircase and grabbed her attention, "Come on, out with it"

"What?" Roxy raised an eyebrow

"There's something bugging you, so out with it" Veebee stated: realizing she wasn't going to leave it alone, Roxy rolled her eyes in exasperation and obliged her: "...I hate this place and I wanna go home" she huffed,

"I get that, but no can do I'm afraid, not while Barricade is still out there" Veebee offered sympathetically.

"Fine, but why can't I be 'kept in protective custody' somewhere else? I don't like it here, _the people_ here don't like me here, so what's the point?" Roxy frowned

"If we had more than one base I'm sure that could be doable" Veebee offered, "But as it is? Sorry, you just gotta make the most of it" she shrugged before turning serious, "You know? There's something I've been meaning to ask you..."

"What?" Roxy replied sarcastically

"What is it with you and your cousin? I mean, you guys are like, constantly fighting all the time: what gives?" the pink femme asked quizzically

"'What gives' is that _little slut _and her lackey think they can pull one over on _me _and think they can get away with it. Ever since they showed up it's been 'my mom abandoned us so we got nowhere else to go, and 'our daddy hanged himself so we don't have anyone left now'...If they think _for one moment_ those sob-stories are supposed to make me feel bad for them, they got another thing coming" Roxy stated sarcastically with a cold edge in her voice, "I may be no girl scout, but it takes one to know one: and I know a con-job when I see one"

"And? What exactly are they trying to con outta you?" Veebee raised a curious optical ridge

"Duh! Only my home, my possessions, everything I hold dear?" she stated in a facetious tone, "They used to be thieves and drug pushers before they got caught and thrown into Juvi: they lived on the streets and stole purses and wallets everyday just so they could eat; it doesn't take a genius to figure out what they were gonna do when they realized they had relatives who had a home with credit cards and a car. No sooner had they arrived they tried to steal the damn thing for a joyride!"

"Okay? Well? That's not good obviously" Veebee replied sheepishly, "But, didn't you try and ask them _why?_"

"What's the point? Kids like them aren't hard to figure out: you only gotta take one look at them to realize their trailer-trash that'll do anything for a quick buck. The fact they're not already hookers or junkies totally blows me away"

"Well? Looks aren't everything...Well maybe they are, I mean come on: how many femmes can say they were sparked with a paint-job _this _fabulous..." Veebee gestured to her pink paint-job before turning serious again, "But my point is: sometimes _we think_ we know something when actually we don't"

"Oh come on, you don't actually believe in all that bullshit? That whole 'never judge a book by its cover' crap?" Roxy exclaimed

"Well? ..." Veebee thought about it carefully for a moment, and then continued: "...Okay: when we were growing up, me and Bluebird used to fight _all _the time, pretty much over anything _and everything_; she'd be all 'Veebee stop worrying about your paint-job!', and I'd be like 'oh chill out will ya?'. And for years I thought I knew a lotta stuff about a lotta stuff: but? ...Well? as we got older, underwent our upgrades and finally went through Autobot training together; I slowly realized, she was right about a lotta things that I thought was wrong, and vice versa I was actually wrong about a lotta things I thought were right..."she explained, but when she noticed how Roxy looked more confused, she decided to simplify things a little: "...Okay, _my point is_: for years I thought she was a complete dork and kill-joy; but when I began to see a lotta what she said made sense, I realized she's actually not all that bad. I mean don't get me wrong, she can she can be way too much of a goody two-wheels at times: but she knows how to have fun, and we both respect each other enough to cover each others afts on the battle field...She may be a dork, but she's _my_ dork you know? There may be times we wanna kill each other: but we'd kill _for_ each other, any time..."

Roxy didn't reply, she simply turned her gaze down with an unreadable look on her face. "You know, maybe you and Max have more in common than you think?" Veebee offered

"We've got _nothing_ in common" Roxy replied quietly

"How'd you know for sure?"

"Come on, can you honestly see someone like _me_ hanging out with trailer-trash like _that?_"

"So? People ask all the time why I hang around with an annoying little out-of-control dweeb like Firefly? But I still hang with her cuz she's my sister, regardless of what she does and how she looks" Veebee pointed out, "You and Max: you're both stubborn to the point nothing throws you off, when you have a point to make you make it without giving a frag to what anyone says, and when you fight, you're both tenacious to the point of absolute determination. Working _with_ each other instead of _against_ each other? That would make for a pretty powerful combination: so what've you got to lose? Certainly not your dignity, you didn't need anyone's help making a fool of yourself"

"...It's complicated, you wouldn't understand" Roxy reluctantly stated

"Oh? And what wouldn't I understand?" Veebee retorted matter-of-factly

"That there are certain standards society sets for the world, and one of them, is that you _don't associate_ with the trash that crawls outta the gutter" Roxy stated facetiously, "People like them are thrown out with the trash for a reason, and somehow, everyone has it in their heads that it's an unacceptable way to view them as such. Well _excuse me_, it's _not_ my fucking fault their dad decided to hang himself, or that their mom decided to skip town and never come back..." she sighed, "...When you break it you buy it, you don't palm it off or try to suck up for attention, you _deal with it_"

"But what if you _didn't _have the luxury of making a choice? Things _do_ happen in life that are way beyond anyone's control: you can't allot blame on anyone for _that _(no matter how much you hate them)"

"There's _always _someone to blame" Roxy retorted, "Shit _doesn't just happen_, not in a world that's got so many people crawling all over the place. Everyone everywhere relies on _someone _for their survival: when shit happens, _someone somewhere _is always to blame"

"True, there are over six billion humans on this planet" Veebee shrugged, "And yeah, you have much better chance of survival if you you're part of a unit rather than being individual..." she reasoned offhand, "But seriously? Even I know you can't account for all the random slag that goes down. It's- (what do you call it again?), Murphy's law!"

"Murphy's law?"

"Anything that _can_ go wrong _will_ go wrong. And all great plans _never_ live past first contact" Veebee stated (feeling a tad proud that she _actually remembered something_ her drill instructor at the Autobot training academy told her, 'Wow, they really _do_ drill it into you!', she thought offhand).

"Kinda sounds like something Lizzy would subscribe to" Roxy thought aloud with a weirded-out look.

"Point being, people (bots and humans alike) aren't always to blame for everything, and believe me, it's always the stuff you _don't_ see coming that completely throws you off"

"I'm sorry, but how's any of this supposed to help me?" Roxy replied sarcastically

"Look, instead of biting everyone's head off all the time, why don't you just try being nice for a change?"

"_Nice?_" Roxy echoed in confusion, as if the word were completely foreign to her.

"Yeah, you know? Instead of mouthing off your opinions all the time, try _listening _to what other people say: Instead of being the fifth wheel, try helping out with stuff every once in a while, and when Max comes looking for a fight, try opting for the moral high ground and down let her get under your armour" Veebee suggested, "It's always the little things that count, and people remember you when you do nice things for them"

"Hm" Roxy smirked, "I know: I do a lotta nice things for a lotta nice boys; but people round here? Not quite so gullible I'm afraid"

"I don't mean _those_ kinda 'nice things'," Veebee frowned in a deadpan tone, "Just-...I mean, try being decent, and then maybe people will _want_ to help you out?"

"What's the point?" Roxy huffed in annoyance as she got up and started marching back to her quarters, "-It won't matter what I do or say, cuz _no one_ in this god-forsaken place is gonna wanna help me!"

"Well _I'm_ helping you..." Veebee replied

Roxy stopped, she was actually surprised: as she thought about it she realized she was right; but her pride wouldn't allow her to acknowledge it, or admit to it. A moment of silence stretched out through the corridor as Veebee waited for her to turn around and say something; but then, an idea suddenly came to mind. "Wait right there, I'll be back in a micro-sec" she said as she stood up and trotted down the corridor.

"She's right you know?" a voice spoke behind her. Nearly jumping out of her skin, Roxy spun around and was confronted with the sight of an old woman standing a few feet off from her. "A little kindness goes a long way: and what can be paid in a good deed, can also be repaid in a good deed" she spoke in a worn soft voice.

Looking her up and down, Roxy realized she was old, _very_ old: her face was etched with so many wrinkles and so soft that her skin looked like silken paper hanging off her lean fragile frame; her hair was long, thick and wavy, and was so silvery white it almost looked like it was shimmering, like starlight. She was dressed in a long white flowing gown-like dress, which was embroidered with strange alien symbols, much like the ones she'd seen around the base (cybertronian glyphs, she reminded herself). In a way she almost looked like she was glowing: the crisp pristine whiteness of her dress and hair made it look like she was giving off her own light; like freshly fallen snow glistening in the dawn's early sun. But what really grabbed her attention, was the forlorn look in her vivid blue eyes, a look of sad disappointment, and a sense of shame.

"I-, who're you? Where did you come from" Roxy blinked at her bewilderment; there wasn't anyone else in the corridor, was there?

"I learnt a very long time ago that imposing on others doesn't get you much: You have to learn to listen, and try to guess what it is that get's through to them..." she replied, "...It's not easy, and takes much patience's on one's own part, but it is very effective once you know how to do it"

"Uh, sorry but-, who are you?" Roxy frowned in confusion as she moved around her, back towards the staircase.

"...Someone who's spent a lot of time listening..." she replied quietly, "...It's all I can really do, when I come to this place. Someday, you'll learn the value of it too" she smiled softly

"Hey!" Veebee grabbed her attention; Roxy glanced over her shoulder to see Veebee approaching with a rather reluctant Miles sitting on her shoulder "Miles said he can give you hand practicing your manners, wanna try?" she asked as she bent down and offered her hand for her to climb into. "Only cuz you bribed me with a free lunch" Miles grumbled under his breath.

"Listen, I don't-" But when Roxy turned back again, she saw the old woman was gone: looking around in utter confusion, she saw there was nowhere she could've hidden; it was just the corridor intersection, with the stairway behind her. "...How the hell-"

"Come on! It's lunch and I'm starved!" Miles called down impatiently. Feeling a little unnerved as she looked up and down the corridor, Roxy wandered over to Veebee, and climbed into her waiting hand: after Veebee placed her on her opposite shoulder, Roxy cautiously looked over her shoulder behind her; but no one was there...

The corridor was completely empty.

* * *

NEST Base, 9:52pm:

"Off duty?" Bishop asked offhand as Darren walked out of the computer hub.

"Uh yeah, just finished up those diagnostics; nothing unusual to report" he replied

"Excellent" Bishop nodded, "And speaking of which, you're cousins might be pleased to know their parent's (plus yours) will be paying a visit to the base tomorrow afternoon for a 'check up' on their overall status. The approval for their inclusion on the classified access list just came in not twenty minutes ago, so we won't have to worry about Galloway breathing down our necks"

"Oh-, that's great sir" Darren replied sheepishly

"But?"

"But what?"

"I sense a but coming Ainsley, out with it"

Knowing there was no use in hiding it, Darren sighed and gestured for him to follow: "...Okay, me, Jeanie, Allie and Morri were talking today, and we kinda touched on the subject of my family's 'issues': and tomorrow might present an opportunity for us to 'get some much needed things out into the open'...". As he explained the ins and out of his previous conversation in the hanger, Trailbreaker half-listened as his charge and Bishop wandered off down the corridor; he was about to step out and follow, when he looked down and saw Rosy looking up at him rather sheepishly.

"Oh, Rosy: sorry I nearly missed you there" he apologized.

"Yeah, I guess being as big as you are, stepping over people must be a regular thing huh?"

"On occasion..." he humored her, "Anyway, where've you been all day? I haven't seen you since breakfast"

"Oh, I've been around: didn't get up to much really?" She shrugged, Trailbreaker knew that somehow, that wasn't quite true; but he didn't press her, and so instead he asked: "Uh-huh...So what can I do for you?"

Rosy hesitated slightly, before replying: "...Um? You've been Darren's guardian for, round about two years right?"

"Right"

And every time he used to drop by our place, you parked in the driveway right?"

"That's, kinda what a driveway's for" he replied with slight sarcasm, knowing she couldn't tell the difference between sarcasm and being straightforward (he knew it wrong of him, but Rosy's constant prattling didn't do much to endear her to him in the first place).

"And when you parked in our driveway, you could hear us from the kitchen windows right?" she asked

"Right" he sighed, wondering where she was going with this.

"Well? ...What I want to ask was...Do we strike you as a broken family?"

Trailbreaker blinked in surprise, he hadn't expected that: "...What makes you say that?" he asked concernedly

"It's just-, I kinda, maybe, overheard you guys talking in the hanger as I passed the door?" she sheepishly lied

"Oh..." Trailbreaker suddenly realized, "...Yeah, we uh? Kinda talked about what we're gonna say when we meet up with your creators again"

"We're going home?" she perked up

"No uh, their coming here, to see how your all doing and what-not" the black bot sheepishly replied, kind of feeling like he was somewhere between a rock and a hard place.

"Oh..." Rosy's enthusiasm deflated like a balloon, "Okay...Well? Anyway, it made me think: there must have been loads'a times you heard us arguing. I just wondered if you really thought badly of the rest of us?"

Now really feeling like he didn't want to be here, Trailbreaker sheepishly explained: "It's-, not that I thought badly of your family: over time I came to believe there was much room for improvement"

"Really?"

"All families have their problems Rosy, it's part of life; but that doesn't make them bad, just-, some are more complicated than others"

"...I'm not particularly smart, I know that" she admitted awkwardly, "But am I really so dumb that I didn't see our family problems for what they really were?"

Realizing there no use in beating about the bush, Trailbreaker thought to the pit with it, and with a deep regretful sigh he replied: "...Look, I'm going to be frank with you Rosy: when it comes to putting two and two together you somehow _always_ end up with six or twenty three, and when it comes to being quick on the up-take your always the last to get it. Now, that's not to say I blame you for your lack of perception: some people's attention spans just aren't as long as we'd all like them to be; but if I have to be brutally honest? You _don't stop to think _for yourself: you just go along with whatever anyone says, and believe me, Roxy is _not _the best person on the planet for a role model"

"...I figured as much..." she replied quietly as she dropped her gaze sullenly, "You know? I always wondered why the other kids in school used to giggle whenever I answered the teacher's questions. For a long time I thought they were laughing _with_ me, but now I kinda think they were laughing _at _me..." she sighed, "Roxy-, just seems to know a lot about stuff; I'm so scared of doing _anything_ by myself in case I screw it up"

"Well we all run the risk of screwing up in life, but that shouldn't stop us from living it none the less" Trailbreaker shrugged

"Yeah, but you don't screw up like _I _do," she replied, "For as long as I can remember I've never been good at _anything_: I always got D's, E's and F's in school, I tried cooking once and nearly blew up the house; I tried painting once and nearly caused a traffic pile-up on the highway, I even gave a shot at trying to be a professional swimmer but somehow I set the water on fire. I've tried a bunch of stuff and it never turned out right"

Trailbreaker frowned in confusion 'How do you set _water_ on _fire?_' he thought in utter bewilderment: but had to stop before his CPU glitched, and knew how Ratchet _hated _fixing CPU's that had glitched from data-contradiction. Shaking the words from his mind, he went back to the topic at hand. "Look, no one succeeds at anything right away: it takes time for us all to discover our talents. Some of us spend half our lives trying to figure out what we're good at while others are just naturally-sparked with a gift that they pick up right off the bat; you just gotta learn to be patient, it'll come to you" he assured her: '_Hopefully_' he mentally sighed.

"But I'm not smart, how will I be good at anything if I'm not smart?" Rosy pointed out.

"Well? I don't believe smarts should be the standard by which we measure our selves: I mean, there are other virtues that can see us through life that don't require a great sum of intelligence. (Not that I can think of any offhand) But I'm sure you'll do just fine: you just gotta learn to stop, think, and make up your own mind about what to do" he offered

"I-, I'll try" she sheepishly replied

"Glad to help, now if you'll excuse me-" he carefully stepped over her and headed after Darren, "-I got other stuff to wrap up before the days out"

"Stop and think, stop and think" Rosy repeated over and over like a mantra: as she walked off in the opposite direction, she nearly bumped in Tangostar's leg as she came trotting down the corridor. "Oh, sorry!-" the orange femme apologized as she screeched to a halt, "Hey you haven't seen Lizzy anywhere have you?"

"No why? She slipped away from you again?" Rosy asked

"Eh, she's only been gone like twenty minutes, but I ain't taking any chances with _her!_" Tangostar huffed as she took off again: "If you see her tell her to report to her quarters!" she called over shoulder.

* * *

Outside the base, on the south side of the airstrip:

The sky was a nice deep shade of blue tonight, as the last of the twilight slowly faded into the deep indigo of night. All around the nocturnal desert life stirred to life as the moon and stars illuminated the vest endless land of rock and sand. Perched on a rock high out of sight, Lizzy sat with her legs crossed, watching the last of the daylight fade away, and wondering in the back of her mind, about yesterday, and all the days before that. She nearly jumped when heavy footsteps approached, and Firefly unceremoniously sat herself down next to the human.

"I thought I saw you sitting up here!" she smiled as she made herself comfy, "Primus, I'm so glad this day is over!" she sighed with relief.

"I saw you on the training ground: that Ironhide dude was really whipping your ass" Lizzy observed

"UGH! He just _doesn't know_ when to quit!" Firefly fumed, "And he's the rudest, _most obnoxious_ slaghead in the history of slagheads! I mean, who the frag does he think he's-" but she stopped when she realized Lizzy wasn't paying attention, "...What wrong?" she asked, calming down a little.

"...I was thinking about yesterday" Lizzy replied blandly with a blank expression.

"Aw Primus, that was something!" Firefly grinned

"Definitely..." Lizzy nodded with a small smile, before turning serious, "But it got me thinking. It's not gonna change"

"What won't?"

"Us: Roxy and Max fighting all the time, it's never gonna change; the second we get home it's gonna be back to business as usual. Screaming and shouting, stuff being thrown, and probably someone's hair being pulled out...And all the while, dad tries to stop it, but he won't...He never does" she thought aloud

"Well? Can't he just kick them out?"

"Sure he could, but he won't: and he never tells us why? ...There's a lotta stuff he doesn't talk about with us; I don't know why he chickens out like that? But he does. Not that I care, I just slip out the back window and go do my own thing you know? It ain't my problem if I ain't involved"

"Yeah that makes sense" Firefly nodded thoughtfully, "...You know? I don't get why I have to be put through this slaggin' retraining? I mean, I've _already been_ through basic training: just cuz that Majestrix can't take a joke, I have to break my axle and blow out my tires just to make _her_ happy?" she vented: "...It's like-, for as long as I've been an Autobot, _no one's_ paid attention to me: I can go all the way and hold down my own against the worst cons out there, but every time slaggin' time I get a chance to show everyone just what I'm made of, _I _get sideswiped, and it's not fair...Sometimes? I wonder why I even joined this stupid fraction..."

"...My parents don't notice me either..." Lizzy replied

Firefly looked down at her, "...Really?"

"...They're always so busy trying to keep Roxy and Max in check: that they don't have time for anyone else anymore...But so what? I mean, I've always done things my own way: I've never relied on anyone to do anything for me in my whole life, I just think about what I need to do, and I go out and do it. I don't need anyone telling me what I can and can't do with my life"

Thinking about it, Firefly nodded, "You know? When I think about it, I've never really needed my sisters too"

"You don't?" Lizzy looked up at her.

"Sure: I mean, I can handle any class of weapon by myself, I'm checked out on over six different classes of close-quarter combat manoeuvres, and my top speeds over two sixty, and that's _fast _for a scout. And (not to brag or anything) but _I am_ pretty smart when it comes to outwitting the enemy" she grinned smugly

"Hey, if you're smart enough to pull off a high-class prank and get away with it, you can do pretty much _anything_" Lizzy reasoned

"Yeah..." Firefly nodded, the two trouble-makers sat in silence for a while, before Lizzy suddenly jolted: "Oh-em-gee! That's it!"

"What's what?" Firefly raised an optic ridge

"Why don't we just go?"

"Go?"

"Yeah! You, me, and nothing but the open highway! We could _go_ wherever we want, _do_ whatever we want, with no one to tie us down or tell us what to do! We'd live _our own_ lives: wild and free, going wherever the wind blows!"

Firefly stared at her, before a broad grin spread across her face plates: "You really think we can do it?"

"Why the hell not? We don't need our dead-weight families holding us back from our destinies: we should be out _there!-_" She gestured to the horizon, "-Living life to the full and not giving a damn what anyone says; you only get to go around once in the crazy life, let's not pass it up while it's ripe for the taking!"

"But? What if they come looking for us?"

"Ah we'll send them postcards from all the awesome places we visit; the first few months will be hard, but hey? They'll get over it: if they _actually gave a damn_ to begin with they'd try to stop us sooner" Lizzy waved off flippantly.

"Well that's true..." Firefly reasoned, "Okay, but how're we gonna do this? We can't just take off without a plan"

"Very true: so first, we get together some necessities and supplies, and work out how the hell we're gonna give this place the slip without being spotted..." Lizzy replied as the cogs in her mind started turning.

* * *

**Okay, well, not as crazy as the previous chapters, but definitely a good opportunity at glimpsing what's behind the bitchiness & attitude, & suffice to say, there's still much room for growth here.**

**A/N: To say there's more than a few wires crossed (none vis-a-vis in a sense) leave's room open for something else to go pear-shaped with our attempts to apply the good gospel of Dr Phil to the Ainsley's wounds: This will (in one form or another) be touched upon in the next chapter, so their not out of the woods by far. **

**Oh, & BTW: Rosy really did set a swimming pool on fire once (among a lot of other crazy shit), she's not your average screw-up; you have been duly warned!**

**Please let me know what you think, & stay tuned! :)**


	9. Chpt 8: Crossing the Line

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

* * *

LEMONS & CHERRIES

Chapter 8: Crossing the Line

Tranquility, 9: 27am:

The air was unusually cool this morning, as Will sat out on his back porch with his morning coffee in hand; low-lying clouds gently rolled by overhead as he watched the birds flitting and chirping about in the trees at the bottom of the back yard. Behind him, the back door opened quietly, and Peter came out and sat down in the chair next to him. For a long while they didn't talk, Peter knew better than to push his luck when his brother was in a mood like this: and Will's mood had been anything but agreeable of late.

"...The base won't be on the car's GPS so you're gonna have to follow behind us to get there" Peter quietly said

"Fine" Will replied flatly, before taking a gulp of his coffee.

"The desert's quite big in that general area too, so you might wanna take a couple of bottles of water"

"Okay..." Will leaned back in his chair with a sullen look in his eyes, "...Any other surprises I should know about?"

"Not offhand..." Peter shrugged casually, "...Only then you're gonna have to do more than just meet up with them"

"...What's _that _supposed to mean?" Will glanced at him sideways with a weird look

"...You know _exactly _what I mean..." Peter glanced back at him

Realizing what he was talking about, Will put his coffee down on the porch and looked his brother straight in the eye with a hard gaze: "-Now look, we've been over this a hundred damn times already! _I can't do anything_ to make them pay attention without arguing some more! What the hell do you expect me to do?!"

"I expect you to be their father and show a little more backbone!" Peter retorted, "For god's sake Will this has gone on too damn long! And you're way overdue to face up to the facts: _you need to stop_ clamming up like this and just be honest with them!"

"Honest? _What the hell_ does that even mean anymore! I say one thing my daughters think I'm saying something else, I try to be honest and they think I've got something to hide; no matter which way I cut it, I can't for the life of me get them to listen!" Will argued back

"Only because you didn't listen first!-" Peter retorted, Will was taken aback, "...You're daughters and nieces are going around in circles, and they'll remain stuck unless you tell Max and Chelsea the truth about their father: about _who_ he was to us and why we couldn't find him"

Will looked away, refusing to answer that.

"Look, _I know_ this is painful: you don't think I'm finding this hard? That I haven't sat awake at night wondering how the hell it all went so wrong for us all those years ago? ..." Peter sighed in frustration, "...I'm pissed and heartbroken too; but we can't afford to let the past dictate what happens now. Tell your kids the truth and put it to rest. Please"

Silence

"...They won't listen" Will replied quietly

"Then _make them_ listen, scream and shout if you have to, but one way or another, your girls deserve to know what made you who you are...As their father: that obligation is one you _can't _turn away, no matter how much it hurts to face it"

Another silence stretched out, before Will sighed and looked over at his brother: "...I've spent so long trying to keep it all in the past: it never occurred to me that it might find its way into the present..." he thought aloud, "...I never meant to hurt anyone by turning it all away, really, I didn't. But when you try to protect your family from a history like ours, you'd do anything, even at the expense of their trust. It's not a choice you wanna make, but if it means they get to grow up free from the burden of knowing their Grandfather was a selfish arrogant drunken wife and child beater, then it's something I can carry to my grave and not have to totally regret"

"...I understand that..." Peter sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, "But sometimes, _we don't have_ the luxury of those kinda choices: Max and Chelsea don't know who their father was or where he came from, and your girls don't completely understand how they came to be their cousins in the first place; and instead of telling them the truth, you just let them go ahead and make up their own conclusions. That's not good parenting Will, that's being a coward: all for the sake of not wanting to hurt your own feelings"

Will didn't reply, he knew he had no right to argue back, and hung his head in shame.

"If it were me: _I'd bleed everything_ from my soul, if it meant my son could reconcile his family's past on his own terms; and he has, and I'm _damn proud_ of him for it"

"But the girls-"

"-Are smart enough to know better; contrary to what everyone else is left to believe and how they choose to behave, they're a lot more grown-up than even _you_ give credit for..._They just need_ the opportunity to realize it"

Will didn't say anything at first as he contemplated his brother's wisdom: "...I don't even know where to begin" he finally said

"Don't-, look at everything from the point of view of the little things; just say something first: and let the rest come as it comes" Peter suggested,

"...If I do this, will you be there?"

"Will, when have I ever _not_ been there for things like this?" Peter smiled: Will couldn't help but smile back.

"...We'll be back round about two" Peter said as he got up to leave, "Don't make excuses okay? You're gonna do this, and we're gonna do it _together_" he added

"Wouldn't miss it..." Will deadpanned, "Oh and uh? That Bishop guy said we might be able to take Violet home too, if he can sign off on the paper work right?"

"That's what Darren said when he called last night" Peter shrugged, "I dunno, we'll have to wait and see...later" he waved good bye as he left via the back door, "Bye," Will replied.

As he listened to his brother walk through the house and out the front door, get into his car, start the engine and drive away home: Will wondered if he could really do what needed to be done; no more time for procrastination, and as he picked up his coffee and finished it off: he tried to think of the right words, and how best to phrase them.

* * *

NEST Base, 9:41am:

Twenty minutes

That's all she had, and it's all she'd need

From what Firefly had been able to gather on the rotation of the kitchen staff's duty roster; preparation for the first lunch period started at 10am sharp, there were a lot of mouths to feed on this base, and they had to get all the cooked meals prepped and ready by 11:45am at the latest: ergo, the kitchens were more or less empty for twenty minutes before the lunch-time cooks got to work while the breakfast cooks were clocking off.

As Lizzy carefully peered her head through the door, she saw no one was around: "Sweet!" she whispered under breath as she snuck in, and glanced at the floor-plan Firefly had printed out for her. "Okay, the pantry should be..." Glancing around, she soon spotted her target, "-There!"

Quick as a whippet, she stealthily darted across the kitchen to the pantry, unlocked the door, and slipped in to help herself to the canned foods and other packaged food items. As soon as the large rucksack (which had been swiped from the provisions and basic field equipment unit) on her back was as full as it could get, Lizzy staggered out: trying desperately to balance herself under the sheer weight of all the cans. The whole thing must've been nearly as heavy as her if not more: but her legs didn't give out, and after quickly pilfering one of the draws for a can-opener, she hobbled out of the kitchen and quickly made her way to where Firefly was waiting for her.

"You get everything you need?" the green femme asked anxiously

"Everything, I think?" she panted as she heaved the rucksack into her trunk, "...Okay, food's taken care of: we'll come back for the water canisters later; that leaves, camping equipment and a first aid kit left to swipe" she added as she sat down in Firefly's driver's seat.

"Okay, and then I'll see how many energon cubes I can pack into my sub-space. If we get everything ready by lunchtime, that'll give us the rest of the afternoon to figure out a way off this base, and then with any luck, we'll be crossing the state-boarder by midnight tonight!" Firefly grinned through her radio.

"Then let's not waste time, let's go!" Lizzy tapped the steering wheel, and together they sped off down the corridor, being careful not to be spotted.

* * *

Meanwhile, up in the command center:

"It's been nearly a week, and nothing new has turned up" Galloway deadpanned through the monitor, "Not a peep out of any of them! And you're still worried the girls are in immediate danger?"

"I did not say the situation has lulled, director" Prime stated, "I am simply pointing out that the Decepticons recent inactivity _is not_ what we anticipated them to do"

"The NEST stealth teams we deployed to cover Tranquility have confirmed that no new energon trails have been detected, from Barricade _or_ any of the other cons we encountered. It would seem they have gone to ground" Ironhide pointed out.

"In addition, no energon residue has been detected near the proximity of the Ainsley homes: the only one that even comes close is over five kilometers away. And _that_ one's over ten days old. If Barricade or any of the cons were surveying them, they'd have to be much closer in order to successfully tap their phone lines and intercept their computer's online functions, but Hot Rod, Arcee, Mirage and Cliffjumper have not detected any strange activity, or anything to suggest the Decepticons are up to something in that area of the city" Prowl added

"Could it be possible for them to deploy a spy drone of some kind?" Moshower asked, "If that con that tried to kidnap the Briggs girl is still about, they might be able to procure the necessary intel by other means"

"A good observation general" Prime nodded, "But with Crystalwing currently orbiting over the earth as we speak, it would be exceedingly difficult for even a drone to slip by. Never the less, it is not impossible for them to try"

"But a highly improbable move; they know we caught them in the act when they tried to make off with Morri, and they know we're looking for them: it makes tactical sense to stay low and wait 'till the heat dies down" Bishop threw in

"True, but _they know_ we don't give up easily" Prime stated, "And sooner or later, we would eventually find their hiding place and flush them out; it wouldn't be prudent to stay put in one place for too long"

"Unless there's something that their willing to risk being found out for" Bishop thought aloud, "If there's something more pressing than trying to run from us, it could be the reason they went to ground in the first place? They don't want any unnecessary attention"

"It's a possibility" Prime concurred

"If that's the case: where do you believe the Ainsley girls stand in all this?" Moshower asked

"I have had time to ponder that subject General, and I am beginning to wonder if the girls really were the Decepticon's target in the first place?" Prime replied

Everyone looked at him quizzically, this was the first time they heard of this.

"Excuse me?" Galloway deadpanned, "-First you say the cons are hell-bent on trying to get them in order to get to you, now you're saying they probably _weren't _in any danger to begin with?!" he facetiously exclaimed

"What's your logic behind this new theory?" Moshower coolly asked

"The evidence General: it doesn't not fit the pattern of what one would expect from a Decepticon who was trying to procure multiple hostages," Prime reasoned, "The results from the energon residue sweep show that none of the Decepticons had been anywhere near the Ainsley homes in over ten days; no further attempts to try and draw us out or attack the base have taken place, and no evidence of Decepticon surveillance has been detected within proximity of the base...However, there is no evidence to suggest the Decepticons _might_ have surveyed the homes at an earlier date: and with evidence suggesting that they have the means to mask their trails, they could've easily snuck by and retraced their steps without our knowing; there is also no evidence to prove that they _have not_ been surveying us by other means: drones are not the only means of spying and procuring data, and if the Decepticons have access to the right technology: it is possible they could gather data without appearing on our radar"

"So? Basically you're clutching at straws" Galloway flippantly stated

"As the general pointed out director Galloway, it is only a theory" Prime stated

"Anything's possible; but what is your gut telling you Optimus?" the general asked

Prime pondered a moment, before cautiously replying: "...My 'gut', general: is telling me that something else is going on, something that we have not yet detected"

"Okay..." the general nodded

"Be that as it may, the president is pushing us to find those cons and wrap this up before the results of the vice-presidential elections are announced. Since no further attempts on the base have been made and the cons haven't been seen in nearly a week, I'm down-grading the Ainsly girls risk-factor from imminent to cautionary; I want them off that base, and I want _you guys _back out there, _looking for those damn cons!_" Galloway stated harshly before his image disappeared off the monitor and the online connection was disconnected.

"...Like _that_ attitude's going to find them any faster" Ironhide huffed sarcastically as he folded his arms.

"What else haven't you tried?" Moshower asked

"As I mentioned before: Crystalwing is currently up in orbit, and she will report anything suspicious if she sees it; we are not completely out of options yet General" Prime assured him.

"I know you're not, just keep at it as best you can: as for the girls? It's your decision, if you think they're still in danger I won't argue, just make sure you're making the right call okay? Moshower out" the general replied as his connection went dead too.

"You don't think it was _them _Barricade was after?" Majestrix thought aloud from where she had been brooding in the corner of the room.

"...I can't be sure..." Prime dropped his gaze, "All I know is that my instincts are telling me something is different, from what I had previously believed"

"Why the change of mind?" she asked as she approached, "I'll admit, Barricade dropping off the radar like this _is_ rather peculiar: but then, there _is _always a calm before a storm"

"You think he and the other Decepticon's are up to something too?" Bishop quirked an eyebrow,

"They've been AWOL for nearly a week, and before then we hardly heard a peep from them (if at all). Clearly they don't want us on their backs: as you pointed out, something has prompted them to go to ground" Majestrix stated

"But the question is what?" Prowl thought aloud, "There have been no new confirmed planet-falls besides the four femmes: and there has been no other evidence to suggest more cons have arrived from other parts of the planet; even _they_ know we know they know how to cover their trails, and the presence of ionized aluminum would be a give-away in itself. If it's not additional forces then the only other logical conclusions would be surveillance or infiltration"

"They are possibilities to look into" Ironhide concurred, "They know we out-number them well over ten to one, it _would_ make sense to concentrate their limited resources and focus on a small-scale operation that required the minimum number of personnel"

"I'll have Blackshot look into it, have Red Alert draw up some simulation tests to see what the exact figures might look like, and then we'll see which is the most probable. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to keep the girls on base, just in case you were right the first time" Majestrix said as she glanced at Optimus over her shoulder, then turned to leave the room.

"And what will you do?"

"I will let you handle this as you see fit brother. I have another matters to attend to" she smiled as the doors closed behind her.

"What did she mean by that?" Ironhide raised an optical ridge

"She's 'doing her own thing': she doesn't tell me anyway, unless she wants to" Prime sighed

"Right..." Prowl deadpanned, "So what are your orders sir?"

"Organize multiple scouting units and put a team together: we'll do one more city-wide sweep with the energon detectors again, and this time we will be thorough; if we do not find Barricade and the others, then we will have to try and locate them through alternative means, or consider the possibility that they may have left Tranquility altogether" Prime stated

"Come on!" Ironhide scoffed, "What're the chances of _that _actually happening?"

"...Not very probable old friend: but then again, _anything is possible_..." Prime frowned dubiously

* * *

In the Autobot living quarters:

"That family is _so _disconnected" Bluebird thought aloud as she stared down at the last few drops of energon in her cube: "I mean-, it's like their all living in different planes of reality, some of them see it for what it really is while the rest just see only what they want to see"

"Ugh! Tell me about it!" Veebee concurred as she took a swig of her energon, "At first I thought Roxy was like, you know, totally troubled and all that? And I thought all she needed was just the benefit of the doubt to try and help her see straight. But after that manners exercise with Miles turned into a complete bust, I can't believe I didn't see it sooner! She's _so totally_ pronoid! I mean Primus!" she huffed in exasperation.

"Then why did you try to help?" Tangostar asked

"Uhg, I don't know..." Veebee threw her hands up, "I guess she kinda reminded me of me when I was still in my second frame; you learn to swallow your pride one damn time and it leaves you with a habit of wanting to stop others from making the same mistake. That or it might be just my Autobot programming getting the better of me? I don't really know: after what happened the day before I guess I just found it painful to watch her make an aft of herself even more"

"Hm, I guess I kinda felt the same way about Max" Bluebird concurred, "Although? To be honest I was more intrigued as to why she's so defensive all the time"

"Did she tell you why?" Tangostar asked curiously

Bluebird thought about it carefully for a moment, before replying: "She-, kinda gave me the general picture; but from what I could gather and going on my own logical analysis: I think she 'wears' her anger like a shield, trying to keep everyone away she doesn't run the risk of getting hurt again"

"Well geez, the way Roxy throws a punch I don't blame her" Veebee shrugged

"Um? I was referring to the 'other' kind of hurt: the emotional one?" Bluebird corrected

"Oh" Veebee dropped her gaze: "You know? I don't think Roxy's any different"

"How'd you figure?" Tangostar asked

"Well? It's kinda complicated to explain, but from what I could gather: I think she's kinda tired"

"Tired?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure if she wants to try and keep up the attitude with Max forever? No one can stay _that _mad forever: it's just-, I don't think she wants to be the first to back down, because she's afraid it'll make her look weak. Those two are as stubborn as each other, and the more one lays on, the other tries to match it evenly if not more; I think if there were no limits, they'd keep at it with each other until finally one of them cracks a hole in the universe" Veebee reasoned

"Well in any case, their creators/guardians are droppin' by to say hi this afternoon. From what Trailbreaker told me earlier, I think their gonna try and resolve this whole thing there and then" Tangostar replied.

"...Do you think we've done enough?" Bluebird thought aloud

"Done enough what?" Veebee raised an optic ridge

"To help them I mean: on the one hand I don't know what to say that could lend any form of comfort or reconciliation for them, but on the other, I feel I have to keep trying"

Veebee and Tangostar both looked at one another: "Blue', this is just a temporary gig, we're not their permanent guardians: we're just meant to keep an optic out for 'em while they're on the base. If they go home with their creators, they ain't our problem anymore" Veebee pointed out

"A problem?" Bluebird snapped her head round, "That's how you see them? As a problem?"

"Well? After all the slag they've given everyone what else you expect them to be? Look don't get me wrong sis I wanna help them too: But they _don't want_ anyone's help, and every time someone does approach them, they throw it back in their faces. I mean? What do you want us to do?" Veebee sighed

Thinking about it long and hard, all Bluebird found she could say was: "..._Something_...Anything; I don't know. I just, don't wanna walk away from this, and later find out that there could've been something we might have been able to do to help...That, _would haunt me_ for the rest of my cycles..."

* * *

A while later, outside the base:

The weather was most peculiar today: peculiar for the Californian desert that is; instead of the usual hot blistering heat, a cool low front had blown in all the way from the Pacific coast, bringing with it a flurry of much welcomed showers and mist. Everywhere around, the cacti and scrub were covered in a delicate coating of tiny crystal-like droplets, while the rocks and boulders dripped with water; forming puddles around their bases. As far as the eye could see: pale grey curtains of mist and fog rolled across the parched land, all the way up the distant mountains, and down towards the valleys and gullies that cut through the vast wilderness; giving a strange mysterious quality to the desert, the kind that ghosts and shadows came out to play in, and lead unwary travelers astray...

All but one, who was exercising a little more caution today...

With the memory of the land mine exploding still fresh in her mind, Max was a little more wary to venture near the perimeter fence again: but it didn't stop her from walking parallel to the perimeter, only this time, she stayed well over a hundred meters away. She wasn't about to totally give up on the idea of escaping this place; she'd left it long enough for the sake of trying to deal with her current predicament. But now she was at the point she felt it was old news: aliens are real and they live on earth: big deal. She was ready to move on.

As she scanned the fence, something in her gut made her turn round: no one was there, but when she turned back again, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Majestrix standing there, looming right over her. Stepping back a few paces to fully take her all in, Max went from surprised to pissed off very quickly.

"Are you trying to escape again?" Majestrix teased with a wicked grin, "Please say you are, because this time I get to set the hell-hounds on you if you actually make it past the land mines"

"Ever heard of just taking a walk?" Max retorted as she straightened herself

"There's taking a walk, and then there's 'taking a walk': and you seemed to be glancing at the fence quite a lot for just a casual stroll" Majestrix raised an optic ridge.

"So what if I was? The idiots on this base could _at least_ put some signs up saying where the mines are buried, then I wouldn't have to be so careful about where I'm walking" Max frowned.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Majestrix smirked as she studied the girl up and down. It was clear she wasn't about to try anything, after her last several escape attempts, she should've learnt a thing or two by now.

"...What'd you want anyway?" Max asked in a rude tone.

"To talk" Majestrix replied, taking on a more serious tone, "And not just about the obvious"

Max studied her for a moment, before feeling a tad more pissed off: "After all that shit you put me through, I got _nothing_ to say to you!" she growled as she turned away and started walking off again.

"Like I wasn't expecting that" Majestrix waved off nonchalantly, "But were you perhaps, expecting me to apologize?"

Max stopped: "...What?" she turned around

"An apology: (not that you're in an reasonable state to want to listen anyway) but I've come to apologize none the less" the giant femme stated matter-of-factly

"Are you taking the piss?"

"Do I look like I'm taking 'the piss'?" Majestrix shot her a deadpan look as she folded her arms.

Realizing she was being serious, Max was now more confused than angry: and after climbing up a nearby boulder to be closer to the Prima's eye-level, she demanded: "Okay, what gives?"

"'What gives' is that I (in all my stubborn-headed wisdom) got a tad too ahead of myself when I came to my own conclusions about you" Majestrix explained in a lighter tone, "When we are faced with a situation that (on the surface) seems quite cut and dry: we have a tendency to forget to stop and look a little closer, for the things we miss the first time round"

"Is that your way of saying you misjudged me?" Max retorted sarcastically as she raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"It is my way of saying that I rushed to conclusions, without first stopping to check all the facts. In essence, yes I 'somewhat' misjudged you; but it also applies to you too"

"What the fuck's _that _supposed to mean?" Max folded her arms

"Humor me why don't you? It's _the least_ you can do for making a slagheap of my training exercise..." Majestrix purred as she gently picked up Max in one clawed hand, and started gently strolling along. "...Stubbornness, cockiness, and defiance are the trademarks of youth: three qualities I've had much experience with, and _know how to break. _For within them lies an inherent risk of hubris and oversight: the potential to miss the important things, which could mean the difference between life and death. In the war, these for the first vices I had to drum out of my recruits, for as much as their own good as well as the welfare of others...But alas, a rambunctious attitude cannot always be blamed on the blossoming of one's adolescence: sometimes, we forget there _are reasons_ why some youngsters 'act out', and defy their elders with aggression and spite. All too often, there is a sad and tragic element as to why they came to be so cynical in the first place; and when we _try _to understand why, we tend to find ourselves sympathizing with their plight more than anything else"

"You're point?"

"Recently, I have come to learn of your family's conundrum and how you and your sister came to be living with your cousins..." Majestrix replied: Max looked up at her, but didn't let her surprise show, and listened as she continued; "Suffice to say, it is a most unfortunate predicament, and one you have my sympathy for. But the truth of the matter is, that for all the denial and defiance you try to wedge between yourself and everyone around you. This is an issue that is as much _your _responsibility as that of your cousins and everyone else involved"

"I don't owe those fuck-heads a damn thing! _I didn't ask_ to be palmed off to them!" Max retorted

"Maybe not, but _you were_ asking for trouble the minute you decided to the pit with it all" Majestrix stated, "Just because others have done wrong by you _does not_ give you the right to do wrong unto them: an optic for an optic and everyone goes blind, child"

"Why not? After everything I've been through, why shouldn't everyone else know what it feels like to be me?" Max stated bitterly

"And what good would that accomplish? Except to prove you are a bully?" Majestrix shot back, "...I know a thing or two about what it means to get back at those who hurt you. You want to them to know _exactly_ what they did to you, to know what it feels like to have the tire on the other wheel (so to speak), so you hurt them back, only you try to double it, triple if possible, and cause as much damage as you can. But more than that, you hope on some level that you hurt them so deep that they never dare to come near you again; that feeling of power? You feel like you can do _anything_, and that _no one_ can stand in your way...But that kind of anger that comes with it? It's like cosmic rust: when it takes root in your spark it spreads and infects your being, tarnishing everything that's good; and the more you embrace it the more it corrupts you, until all that's left is a withered shell of who you once were. And if, by some chance miracle you see yourself in the mirror and realize what it has turned you into: you will howl in despair, because _that _is when you realize you can never go back, or reclaim the life you _could've_ had"

As Max gazed up at her with her stone hard poker-face, she _knew_ Majestrix had just about hit the nail on the head; but no way was she about to let her have the satisfaction of knowing she was right; and instead, she asked in a calmer tone: "...You've had it rough too huh?"

"More than you can imagine, child" Majestrix replied softly

"But that doesn't change anything: my 'cousins' are still a bunch of whiny little bitches whose heads are constantly stuck up their asses, and who delight in annoying the fuck outta me. I got way better things to do with my life than be dead-weighted by them" Max retorted,

"You would forsake a roof over your head, a warm birth at night and three square meals a day to live hand to mouth on the streets?" Majestrix quirked an optical ridge, "I've no doubt you know how to survive in that urban environment; but the latter is far inferior to the first in terms of reliability. Living by yourself with no dependable source of sustainment is a risky ploy, even for someone as smart and tenacious as you...That, and what of your sister?"

"...What about her?" Max cut her a sharp look

"From what I gather you two are quite close"

"_Were_" Max corrected bitterly, "That little bitch has made her mind up: she'd much rather toss me aside to live with those she-faggots. I'm better off without her anyway"

"I used to say the same thing about my brother, a long time ago" Majestrix casually replied

"You're brother?"

"Optimus; growing up, we were more than what you would call 'starkly contrasting'. I loved the thrill of the gladiatorial pits, and he would've much rather have his nose plates stuck in a good holo-book. There were occasions we tried to highlight the enjoyment of each others hobbies, but inevitably we always ending up squabbling...But over time (somehow) our attention to detail in our differences ebbed away, and we began seeing more of who we were underneath..." she thought aloud nostalgically, before meeting Max's defiant gaze: "It is a quality that comes with maturity: and perhaps? If you were to stop 'making such a big deal' over all the unimportant things in your life, and stop to see everything for what it really is, you'll find that _nothing_ is what you originally believed it to be"

"Say's you"

"Say's _experience_..." Majestrix smirked, "Your uncle and aunt will be dropping by later today: I suggest you take the opportunity to think about how you're going amend this situation, and start rebuilding some bridges. Starting with your sister" She said as she placed Max back down in the ground, "...You've got a lot more potential in you, than even _you_ give yourself credit for: I suggest you 'wise up' and start thinking better of your actions" she added as she walked away, and disappeared into the mist, as silently as a shadow.

As another vale of fog rolled by, the entrance to the base appeared some hundred feet away, before fading from sight again. Looking around and listening for any sign of activity, Max sighed in relief: she was totally alone. Checking one more time to make sure Majestrix wasn't still hanging around, Max then whipped out the cell-phone she'd swiped from Miles, opened the back of the device up and swapped out the SIM card for the one she had hidden in her pocket: dialled a number, and waited for the other end to pick up...

:*click*, What up? : A male voice replied.

"It's me"

: MAXY?! Girl where tha' hell you at?! Eddy's been freakin' out over you! Where you been all this time? You been gone for like a week! :

"I've been-, held up with other stuff"

: Well what tha' hell is so important you couldn't call first?! :

"Bad signal. Look, I don't have a lotta time to talk: what's the 411 on your end?"

: Eddy's been trippin over those cars you didn't jack; but then, _the whole city's_ been trippin out over that psycho runnin' around town: practically everyone's gone to ground, and even the pimps have been keepin' all their hoes on a short leash. Word on the street is he's somewhere in lil' China town, whether it's true I don't know? :

"I don't care: listen, did you keep the stuff from our last job safe like I told you to?"

: Sure thing, it's all up in my crib just like you asked. Girl you better know what the hell your doin': Eddy'll _go postal_ on yo ass if he finds you been holdin' out on him like this:

"He can go blow it out his ass for all I care, I got more important stuff to do than run around being his little errand girl the rest of my life"

: Alright, but what about _my _cut? :

"I already took care of it. The cash is in a bag hidden behind the trash cans at the bottom of your grandma's backyard, I made sure to put it under the empty flower pots. It _should_ be still there"

: Thanks Maxy, I own you one:

"Just make sure Eddy doesn't find out, or it'll be _both_ our asses"

: Hey it's cool; so when're you comin' back? :

Max looked around, making sure no one was within earshot: "...With any luck, hopefully tonight, but I got some stuff I need to take care of first; I need to get to a computer or laptop..." And then, an idea suddenly came to mind, "And I think I know where I can find one" she said as she started walking towards the base entrance.

* * *

In the rec-room:

:... Today's top story: the search for the Tranquility Stalker has taken yet another gruesome turn with the discovery of _twelve_ unidentified female bodies, that were discovered in the memorial fountain in Tranquility's Founders Park in the early hours of this morning. The twelve girls, all adolescents: had been excoriated, decapitated and sexually abused to the point of torture: this comes just after the discovery of five other victims who were found dumped in an alleyway on Wednesday night. Police have _still_ found no new evidence pertaining to the killer's identity, and are calling in the FBI for additional support and resources; authorities at this time are advising-

"Turn that crap off!" One of the NEST troops grumbled, and Perceptor obliged, reaching over to turn the TV off.

"_Twelve?_ Jesus that guy is ballsy with a capitol B" Chelsea shook her head in disbelief

"And in a public park too, that's very risky for someone who's trying to avoid the police" Jeanie concurred

"He's either getting better at hiding or he's devolving" Darren threw in, not even bothering to look up from his laptop.

"What'd you mean?" Rosy asked quizzically

"Well? According to psycho-babble dot com-" he gestured to his laptop, "There's a lotta stuff people have come up with to try and explain this guy's behavior; the main theory being: he's real smart, knowing how to cover his tracks and the like, and had been killing in secret for years (as that mass grave in the national park so aptly demonstrated). But _why_ he's stepping up his kill-spree score now: _and_ with the police on his tail is still being hotly debated. The two main theories are: he's either showing off, trying to prove he can't be caught; or he's devolving. In other words, he had mental break of sorts and now his mentality is falling apart at the seams: and whatever satisfaction the killings brought is no longer there, and he's trying desperately to recreate the high they gave him before. If that_ is_ the case, he's now _way _more dangerous than before. But if it's first, his cockiness is likely to get the better of him, and he's more likely to trip up somewhere and make a mistake"

"So as long as he keeps thinking high and mighty of himself the police have a better chance of catching him?" Chelsea thought aloud

"I guess? But until the police actually catch and section him, we'll never know what's driving him to-, do what he's doing now" Darren replied

"Well either way, it'll be the needle for him that's for sure" Rosy shrugged

"Hm: anyway, changing the subject-" Darren said as he switched his laptop off and closed it shut, "-My mom and dad will be arriving here with your mom and dad at about three thirty this afternoon; that gives us until then to find Max and Roxy, sit them down, and try to get them to see eye to eye: have we come up with any ideas yet on how we're gonna do this?"

"I've got some speeches in mind that I spent the better part of last night crafting together" Jeanie threw in jokingly: "The main problem will be, getting them both to _actually talk_ without letting it spiral down into another bitch-fest"

"That, and getting Lizzy and Violet to pay attention long enough's gonna be difficult; Violet's still holding a grudge against me for what happened with Annabelle" Darren sighed

"I don't doubt this is gonna be tough, but we _have_ to do this if we're to talk with dad: putting both Roxy and Max's stubbornness aside is the first priority here, the rest? We'll just have to try and negotiate strenuously if need be: but one way or another, _no one_ is backing outta this, agreed?"

"Agreed" everyone around the table replied

"So what's our first move?" Rosy asked

"Find them first obviously" Chelsea replied, "I'll handle Max, you guys concentrate on Roxy and the others"

"Fine with me" Darren shrugged: Jeanie frowned curiously when she suddenly noticed the laptop was different: "When'd you get a new laptop?" she asked

"Oh this? It's the one I use for when I'm working here: the firewalls installed on it aren't cleared for civilian use so it has to stay on the base: I always keep my regular laptop in my quarters" Darren replied

"But? Didn't _you_ create those firewalls yourself?" Chelsea pointed out

"That's _exactly_ why they aren't cleared for civilian use" Darren grinned, "The brass are worried I might have too much fun using it for 'other things'"

"But aren't you paid for your services here? There's other ways to have fun you know?" Allie pointed out

"Allie, money isn't everything, and believe me there're way more ways to have fun that don't cost an arm and a leg (well? Maybe an arm, I sure as hell ain't giving away my one good leg)" he shrugged as he got up left the table with the laptop tucked under one arm: "I just got some stuff to wrap up in the security hub first, I'll be back to help as soon as I can" he waved good bye.

"Come on, we better get moving too" Jeanie added as she got up and left too, the others followed suit, and together they left the rec-room and headed for the human living quarters.

* * *

A little while later, in the human living quarters:

After having hardly any trouble unpicking the keypad-lock on the door, Max slipped into Darren's room, and right away she spotted the laptop sitting on his desk.

Sitting herself down and turning the device on, she smiled when she saw it had an internet connection. After sending off a few emails, she was about to shut it off, when curiosity got the better of her. Scrolling down the list of archived emails and drafts, she soon spotted one that got her attention: it was labelled, Max's Letter. Opening it, she frowned as she read it over:

Detective Fowler, sorry it took me so long to get in touch but I need you to see this right away; please see the file attached to this email and let me know what you think. I don't want to get the police involved, not unless we absolutely need to, but I really need your advice on how to handle this. Please get back to me when you can, and thanks again for what you did before. Darren.

Clicking the attached file, she gawked in shock when she instantly recognized it as her letter: as her anger began to rise and boil, she closed the laptop and carried it off with her out the room; not even bothering to stop and close the door...

* * *

Meanwhile, up in the security hub:

"Okay, the reboots are done and the hard-drives are all good to go: but _please_, the next time you wanna play Tetris use the regular computers in the rec-room! And make sure you scan for Trojans next time, those lil bastards constipate the system to no end" Darren deadpanned

"Sorry" the Chevy twins both hung their heads in shame.

"Um? Darren?" Novastar got his attention, "Not to alarm you or anything, but the silent alarm on your personal laptop has just been tripped"

"WHAT?!" Darren exclaimed, "-Bring up the security feed for the human block!"

The live feed from the human living quarters showed Max marching down the corridor, looking well and truly enraged, with his laptop in one hand.

"Oh she is _so_ _dead!_ ..." he growled as he glared daggers up at the screen: without a word Trailbreaker transformed and popped his driver's-side door open, Darren climbed in, and without a word the black Lincoln MKS sped off towards the human living quarters; leaving the rest of the crew in the security hub a tad alarmed.

"Should we alert Optimus?" Novastar asked anxiously

With the memory of the day before last still on his mind, Red Alert watched the camera feed with a hard deadpan look and grumbled: "Prime's got enough to deal with at the moment: unless they wake up any of Majestrix's pets again I think we can let the humans sort out their own issues; contact Lennox and Epps and tell them the smack-down starts in several minutes. I'll inform the med-bay to stand by for immediate casualties, failing that, contact the morgue"

Everyone snapped their heads at him in shock

"...I'm joking" he deadpanned, "But seriously. It never hurts to cover your aft"

Within hardly anytime at all Trailbreaker arrived outside the human living quarters and screeched to halt, letting Darren jump out at the same moment he transformed: "Where the hell is she?!" he demanded angrily as he marched down the corridor. "Your quarters are right at the end of the block, she should be coming round the corner round about now" Trailbreaker replied as he bent down to keep an optic on him; the corridor here was much too small for the bots to squeeze through, thus he could only watch as his charge marched on to the end of the corridor.

Just as Darren was about to turn the corner, something hard hit him in the face with a loud CRACK! Dropping him on his ass and dazing him for a split second before he looked up, just in time to see Max standing over him: "YOU FUCKING LITTLE SHITHEAD!-" she screamed as she tried to hit him over the side of the head with the laptop. Reacting on instinct, Darren blocked the laptop with his arm, and in the same instant he brought his prosthetic leg up and kicked her hard in the knee, throwing her off balance and making her fall over backwards.

"-What the fuck?!-" he exclaimed as he scrambled back up onto his feet, "-What the hell's your problem?!" he shouted as she got back up and took another swing at him. "_YOU ARE_ YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" she smacked him round the face hard with the laptop: it hurt but he didn't fall over this time; "You're the one who found my letter!" she hit him again, but this time Darren managed to land a punch of his own, right across the side of her jaw.

"Yeah I found it!-" he shot back as he tried to dodge her advance, "And for fucking good reason! That letter would've hurt us all!"

"-THAT WAS THE FUCKING POINT!" she screamed as she lunged forward and hit the laptop round the side of his face again: this time so hard that the monitor cracked and sent him flying backwards onto his ass, again. She tried to straddle him but Darren hadn't been knocked for six like she'd hoped, and with one hard kick to the stomach he made her back away as he scrambled to his feet yet again. Trailbreaker watched in shock from the other end of the corridor, unable to intervene as Darren stood his ground and readied himself for another attack...

"_What's_ was the point?!" he shouted angrily, "That you thought you could make my uncle out to be a liar, that he was _a pedophile?!-_" He dodged another blow, this time he managed to knock the laptop out of her hand: "-Or was it for kicks? And you just wanted to watch us all suffer?!-" She tried to hit him again, but a punch to the side made her back up: "-HOW FUCKING DARE YOU! You fall out with my uncle _one time_ and _this_ is what you do to get back at him?! _You're even more heartless than I thought!_"

"LIKE I GIVE A SHIT!" she spat back as she went on the offense, and this time she went in _hard_. A brief half minute felt much longer as the two cousins punched the crap out of each other: neither of them backing down or flinching away, they just kept throwing their fists at each other until both of them were bleeding, with bruises starting to form on their faces, arms and chests. With one sharp right hook Max gave Darren a rather ugly-looking cut over his left eye: Darren returned the favor with a hard kick; being made of lightweight steel and reinforced plastics, his prosthetic leg was _much_ harder than her's, as it hit the side of Max's knee joint like a baseball bat. Pain shot through her knee and thigh, but she didn't let herself fall. She managed to grab it as he tried to land another blow, and in one quick move she flipped him onto his back, pulled his trouser leg up, tore off the support straps and yanked the limb off, tossing it aside. She was about to kick him in the side when suddenly-

"STOP IT!" Chelsea screamed as she came flying at Max, punching her so hard that she fell over onto her backside; "-What the fuck Max?! What the hell are you doing?!" she demanded angrily as Jeanie, Allie and Rosy came running up.

"Holy crap! What the hell happened here?!" Jeanie exclaimed when she saw the blood and bruises on their faces: at the same moment, Lennox, Epps, Bishop and John came running up from the opposite end of the corridor, "What happened?!" Bishop exclaimed angrily.

"She tried to kick the shit outta me" Darren scowled as he tried to get back up.

"WHAT?!" Chelsea glared at Max before punching her in the shoulder: "-Why the fuck did you do that?!"

"Because _he's_ the little snitch that ratted me out!" Max accusingly pointed to him

"What?!" the girls exclaimed, having no idea what she meant by that.

As all eyes suddenly were upon him, Darren thought to hell with it and threw up his hands as he staggered back up onto his one leg: "Ah what the hell, it's not like it matters a great deal now anyway-" he huffed in exhaustion.

"Doesn't matter?!-" Max exclaimed as she punched him on the nose, "YOU SCREWED ME OVER YOU LITTLE SHITHEAD! And you say it _doesn't matter?!_" she tried to attack him again, but John was quick to restrain her. The British Marine had to hand it to her: for a girl her size and weight, she had some real muscle on her.

"What?! What're you talking about?!" Jeanie angrily retorted

"She's talking about the letter..." Darren deadpanned as he picked up his prosthetic leg, sat down on the floor, and preceded to reattach it: "I'm the one that hacked your home computer, intercepted it, and forwarded it to detective Fowler before Max could use it for real"

"WHAT?!" Allie exclaimed

"_You're _the one that found the letter?!" Chelsea exclaimed

"I'm a hacker Chelsea it's _what I fucking do!_ At my dad's request I'd been keeping tabs on Max's emails for months, to make sure she hadn't slipped back into trouble again" Darren retorted, turning his glare over to Max: "But lo and behold what do I find? A chain of emails _you _sent your old gang on the ins and outs of several high-end properties in and around Tranquility, properties that 'coincidentally' have all been _burgled_ in the last several months! Care to explain what's up with _that?!_" he challenged her as he stood back up.

Everyone looked at Max in a mix of shock and surprise: "Wha-, is this true?!" Chelsea demanded, "YOUR _BACK _IN THE FUCKING GAME _AGAIN?!_"

Knowing there was no use trying to worm her way out of it, Max glared at Darren and stubbornly retorted: "So what if I am? It's not like those families were dirt poor! They can easily afford to replace all that stuff!"

"You!-" Darren drew his fist back to punch her again, but Max got the drop on him and with one sharp twist she jumped and kicked him round the side of the head, sending him flying back. But in the instant her leg made contact with his head, Darren's reflexes made him grab her hoodie, pulling it with him and ripping the pocket off. As he fell, something green and shiny flew out of the torn pocket and landed on the floor several feet away.

"What the-" Jeanie went to pick it up, "...a broach?"

Suddenly realizing it looked very familiar, Will stepped forward, "Let me see that-" he took it out of Jeanie's hand, and his eyes went wide open in shock. The broach had a _huge_ emerald set in the middle with a row of tiny diamonds lining the edge: it looked antique yet stylish, with a distinct Art Deco-type essence to its overall design.

"This is Sarah's-" he blurted out, "..._YOU _WERE THE ONE THAT BURGLED US?!" he exclaimed angrily: holding up the broach in an accusing manner.

"...Oh shit..." Darren breathed in disbelief: the girls all looked at one another in shock, except for Max, who simply glared at Darren as if he had a death wish.

Shaking his head in disappointment, Bishop sighed: "...I've seen enough... Briggs: take her down to the brig and tell the medics to see to her. You-" he gazed over at Darren with a reprimanding look, "-Head to the med-bay: I'll speak with you later" he turned to address the girls, "The rest of you? I highly suggest you take this opportunity to cool down, and wait until your parents arrive" he turned and walked away, with Lennox following close behind.

"Come on, let's go" John sighed as he led Max away.

"HEY!-" Roxy called out from where she'd been listening several meters away, "You missed one!"

"What?" Jeanie frowned at her in confusion

"Oh come on! You don't actually think _she_ wasn't involved too huh?" she gestured to Chelsea, everyone huffed in exasperation.

"Oh for Christ's sake Roxy don't start this again!" Jeanie facepalmed angrily

"What? I'm just saying, an apple never falls far from the tree: and _that one_ is as rotten as the rest of her fucked up family" Roxy smugly stated as she swaggered over to them: "_You're_ family too _Roxy!_" Rosy glared at her, "Pft! _On come on_, like the paternity test were even real, dad only made that little white lie up to get one over on all of us just because he could" Roxy flippantly waved off. Enraged, Chelsea stormed over to her but Jeanie and Allie stepped in her way, "NO! Chelsea don't!-" Jeanie pleaded desperately. Chelsea stopped, and leaned forward to meet Roxy's gaze as her cousins tried to hold her back: "_I won't_" she bit out of her clenched teeth, "But you? _Three fucking years_ of this bullshit and you _still _don't know when to quit!" she growled venomously.

Roxy didn't even blink: "Oh I could keep this up forever, it's not my fault you're so good for it" she replied in a mockingly sweet tone: "Now why don't you be a good lil' trailer-trash bitch, and go turn yourself in too huh? Seriously, you'll be doing everyone such a big favor" she smugly grinned

"Here's a favor-" THWACK!

Roxy didn't know what the hell had hit her, but when she regained her balance, she was shocked to see Darren standing there with his broken laptop in one hand, and the girls standing behind him watching on in stunned surprise: Epps too hadn't expected _that_ as he watched on in awkward silence. As Roxy rubbed her now throbbing face she felt something wet on her lip and cheek: pulling her hand away, she was shocked to find blood, her nose was bleeding. As she drew in breath, ready to go postal on him, Darren hit her again, this time landing her on her backside.

He threw the laptop down on the ground, and just stood there with an unreadable look in his eyes (which was somehow more scary than him being angry), as if unsure what to do next: for a long uncomfortable moment he didn't say anything as his breathing slowed and his temper slipped away; Roxy didn't know what would happen next either, until at last, he blurted out: "...I'm done with this..." and walked away in the direction of the med-bay.

"Wha-... Where're you going?" Rosy called after him

He didn't reply, and as the girls and Epps watched him walk away, the tense atmosphere eased away into an uncomfortable sense of awkward guilt.

About fifty yards away, down the opposite end of the corridor, Lizzy quietly slipped away: having watched the whole unfortunate scene, and feeling like she'd been stuck between a rock and a hard place: she made a mental note to tell Firefly they'd better hurry up, before any other craziness happened today.

* * *

Much later, around 5:00pm:

As Peter and Will both stepped out of Bishop's office with their spouses in tow, plus Major Lennox and Colonel Bishop bringing up the rear: the two fathers turned to address the Colonel. They talked some more before shaking hands and discreetly nodding to one another in mutual understanding.

A little way down the corridor: seated on a line of chairs, as if waiting to be called up by the principle, the Ainsley cousins/sisters were a real sorry looking bunch as they sat there waiting for their elders. Darren and Max both sported an impressive collection of steristrips and dressings, as well as bruises and scabs from their fight; Chelsea held a bunch of tissues in one hand from all the crying she'd done, while Jeanie and the others just sat there in a mixed sense of disappointment and regret. Further along the corridor, Bluebird, Veebee and Tangostar sat cross-legged on the floor with Trailbreaker standing nearby; after having been told of what had happened no one could make up their minds what to say or do: except wait for the family reunion to be over and done with.

What had been expected to be a family reunion/intervention, had instead been a formal update of the day's events, including the discovery of Max's criminal activities, coupled with Major Lennox's statement of intent to formerly charge her with burglary and GBH (on Darren's behalf). From there, it was the chewing out everyone had expected it to be; after the cousins had all been called into the office to give their accounts of the situation: Darren told them everything, including the fact he was the one who discovered Max's fake blackmail letter. And from there, the rest followed as it played out in a rather emotionally-charged manner.

After they'd been excused, the Ainsley elders talked with Bishop and Lennox at great length for the better part of an hour; which brings the situation to now. As Will Ainsley approached his daughters, nieces and nephew he couldn't think of anything to say, nothing that would not make this worse than it already was. The kids just all looked away, they couldn't look him in the eye; they had neither the courage nor the conviction to say anything that would exempt them from this (and for the most part, most them knew they had no right to argue back). Except Darren, he stared at the floor with a blank look in his eyes: with a feeling of defeat hanging over him.

After a moment of standing there in silence, Will drew in breath, and passed a heavy sigh: "...Well...You'll be taken to the police precinct in the morning: me and your aunt will be there to meet you..." he quietly told Max, but she just sat there with her arms folded, as if she hadn't heard anything. Unconcerned, Will addressed the rest of them, "...The Colonel say's Violet can come home with us, she's been here too long, and quite frankly she need's her parents"

"But-, what about the rest of us?" Allie panicked

"The Colonel say's you can come too,_ if_ you want, but it has to be up to you..."

The cousins all looked at one another, No one replied.

"What difference would it make?" Darren suddenly said, in a rather accusing tone.

"What?" Will blinked in surprise.

"Here, half a mile underground in the middle of the desert or back home in Tranquility: it wouldn't make any difference, we'd go home, we get antsy, and we end up falling out all over again. Unless _you_ change that" Darren frowned up at him accusingly

"What do you-"

"-_Don't play dumb with me!_" Darren spat as he stood up and looked his uncle square in the eye, "I may not be able to account for all the shit Max and Roxy throw at each other, but _you_ can at least show a little more spine and try to take charge every once in a while! Or are you so scared of turning out like your old man that you don't even wanna _try?_"

Will was dismayed, his lips quivered, trying to find a reply to throw back at him: but he could find none, and simply turned his gaze away in shame.

"Darren-" his mother discreetly grabbed his attention: a stiff shake of her head and a firm gaze told Darren not to push it, and instead the teen backed away and passed a heavy sigh, before turning away and walking off.

"Where're you going?" his father called after him,

"To get some air!" he called back as he disappeared around the corner, followed at some distance by his guardian.

"I think maybe we can all do with a break" Colonel Bishop discreetly interjected, "Coffee?"

As Will and Lorie followed the Colonel towards the mess-area: Peter and Pepper both stood there with Major Lennox and their nieces, looking as equally as sorry as they were.

"Well that could've gone way better" Rosy thought aloud ruefully.

"_Yeah think?_" Lizzy deadpanned in a sarcastic manner.

"Hey come on, let's not start all that again" Peter interjected

"Well then how's it supposed to end?" Jeanie frowned, "Look at us all; we had a chance to try and do something, _to actually try and fix it_, and instead we squandered it: just like we always do!"

"Well don't look at me, I stayed outta this one (for once)" Roxy huffed as she rubbed the bruise on her cheek; the others nearly all but gawked at her.

"Darren smacks you upside the face with a laptop, and you _still _can't figure out _why?!_" Chelsea exclaimed angrily.

Roxy looked at her weirdly, "...No?"

Chelsea's jaw dropped before she flipped, "UNBELIEVABLE!" she exclaimed, and stormed off. Jeanie and Allie went after her.

Lizzy twiddled her thumbs, trying to act as if she were innocent: "Um? ...Can I go now? I-, kinda wanna be alone. You know? After all that, I just wanna..."

"Yeah okay Lizzy, you can go" Peter excused her, and without another word she dashed off. Before they turned their reprimanding stares on Roxy.

"What? ..." she shrugged

The couple both looked at one another, and sighed in defeat: knowing it was no use arguing any further, they turned and walked off, hoping to catch up to Will and Lorie. Knowing there was nothing left to be said here, Lennox gently took Max by the arm and pulled her to her feet, "Come on, let's get you back to the brig" he sighed as he led her away.

After walking a little while, a question suddenly entered his head: "...Just outta curiosity, why did you rob _us_?"

"Does it matter?" Max sighed sarcastically, "You're rich and you own a lotta stuff rich people can afford; doesn't take a genius to work out why"

"I'm not rich" Will stated,

"...That's what they all say..." Max sighed quietly.

* * *

Sometime later, early evening:

The wind had dropped, and the fog that had shrouded the desert in a mute shade of grey had cleared to reveal a clear sky; from where he sat atop the ridge overlooking the airstrip, Darren could see just about the whole base, including the tops of the giant Ark, Omega Supreme and Black Solstus barely peeking up from the gorge.

The desert was unusually still today, so still in fact, that Darren had picked up the sound of his guardian approaching from well over a click away: he slow drove up the ridge, transformed, and quietly sat down next to him. Together they watched the desert and the base, and the NEST personnel going about their usual duties on the airstrip as they prepped a couple of Apache choppers for tonight's mission.

"...Think they'll find Barricade tonight?" Darren asked offhand

"Hard to say? Even Crystalwing will only be able to see so far from her orbit, there's no guarantee I'm afraid" Trailbreaker replied quietly

Knowing he was trying to avoid the obvious, Darren sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair: "...I really fucked this up, didn't I?"

"...Not deliberately" Trailbreaker reasoned

"It's still no excuse"

"Is that how you feel? ..." Trailbreaker asked; Darren simply looked at him as if to say: you know it's true.

"It is, as you humans say: 'We're all scholars with hindsight'; sometimes, we just let our emotions get the better of us when pushed to our limits"

"But how far can we stretch them?" Darren thought aloud, "I should've known Max was up to no good. I had her emails and I'd been looking over them for _months_, and _still_ it didn't click that she was back to her old habits again. What does that say about me?"

"That perhaps you actually hoped there was some good in her?"

"..."

Trailbreaker scooted a little closer to him, "You had an inclination that something was off, and the evidence was right there to prove it: yet your mind could not piece it all together. Why? Maybe because some part of you hoped that being with her family had changed something deep down inside her, that made her realize she was wrong (to a degree) about the way the world works. And maybe that part of you held the realization back, because it dared to prove it was right"

Darren thought about it for a moment, before thinking aloud, "...Maybe you're right? ... Sometimes, whenever I see her, I can't help but think: 'surly no one can stay _that_ mad forever?'...I was wrong; and I was stupid for ever believing she was beyond all redemption"

"Don't say that"

"Why not? She just tried to beat me to within an inch of my life: all because I blew her chance to wreak my family's life; and all because she fell out with Uncle Will _only one time_. What does that tell you about how damaged she is? That everything inside her screams of hurt, and so the only way she can figure a way out of it is to hurt everyone back...I _do_ sympathize for her past: but I always said that sympathy can only go so far: and now it has; and I have no choice but to stay away from her, in case I do something I regret..."

Unable to find any words to sooth his charge's downtrodden mood, Trailbreaker merely cupped his hand around his back, and let him lean back into his hand.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the base:

"What the frag did you two do this time?!" Ratchet grumbled as he looked the Chevy twins over with a sharp critical optic: the pair were covered head to foot in pink paint and chicken feathers with silly streamers wrapped around their helms; the two of them looked at one another accusingly, and pointed at each other: "It's his fault!"

As the two started arguing (again) Ratchet was quick to chew their afts out as he set about getting out the right cleaning solutions and spare cleaning cloths.

As the situation started to get a tad out of hand; in the supply room at the far end of the med-bay, Mikaela was busy checking the inventory while Jeanie, Allie, Rosy and Tangostar sat in the corner, comforting a still-depressed Chelsea.

"I _should've known_ it was too damn good to be true!" she cursed bitterly, "I mean-, I know she always resented uncle Will and Aunt Lorie, and she hated the idea of having to give up our old life; but I _never_ actually thought she'd get back in the game"

"Hey come on, you weren't to know" Rosy offered

"But _I should've! _God-, me and Max have had each others backs since forever: even when we first came to live with you guys we still did everything together. I know that-, that whole family counseling left me with a few things to think about, and I _did _start seeing things more clearly afterwards; but did I really lose track of what my sister was up to? I wanted to think she'd changed too you know?"

"That's not a crime" Jeanie offered, "Look, you've gotta stop torturing yourself like this, it ain't gonna do you any favours...We've all been going around in circles as it is, and the fact is...Max just-..." Jeanie couldn't bring herself to finish the rest of the sentence, but Chelsea understood where she was coming from.

"I know" she replied quietly, "But thanks anyway" she added as she got up

"Where're you going?" Allie asked

"I need some cold water on my face" Chelsea replied as she left the supply room

Jeanie held her head in her cupped hands and passed a heavy sigh.

"So? ..." Mikaela asked cautiously, "...What're you gonna do when you get home?"

"...Honestly? ...I don't know..." Jeanie replied ruefully, "I mean, dad's probably gonna try and get Max a good lawyer: not that she'd care. I don't think Juvi really put her off the first time round? She certainly acted like it was a walk in the park the way she bragged about it"

"I have to admit, it never sounds as bad as it's made out to be, but when you're actually in there, it's a completely different story" Mikaela thought aloud.

"You were in Juvi too?" Rosy blinked in surprise

"...Once...a long time ago..." Mikaela thought aloud, "But that's another story for another time. The important thing is, once you've been in there: for some, you know where you stand; but for others? It's a joke: and for Max I think it sounds like the latter"

"You'd be right there" Allie sighed, "She used to brag about Juvi like it a vacation of something, never took it seriously"

"That's always bad news: that's usually the first sign of a career criminal in the making" Mikaela sighed as she went back to her work.

"Well? If she's gonna be incarcerated, she won't be your problem anymore, right?" Tangostar offered

"Just cuz she'll be in Juvi doesn't mean it goes away" Jeanie replied, "The state can only keep her in so long, and then what'll happen when she's released? Will she upgrade to something more than theft and burglary? If she does something to put someone's life in danger (or god forbid), do something that get's someone killed, the state could try her as an adult, which'll mean she's goes to prison. And a fat loada good that'll do: even _I _know those places are just training schools for hard-lined criminals to learn the tricks of the trade, and if and when she gets out, the cycle will start all over again...If she's chosen this as her life, there will be very few, if any chances at all for her to turn back"

"So you don't completely think she's beyond all hope?" Mikaela raised an eyebrow: "Even after the beating she gave Darren?" Rosy concurred in equal confusion.

Jeanie thought about it a minute, before unsurely replying: "...Call it gut instinct or woman's intuition, but _something_ at the back of my mind is telling me that it's not all over for her over yet, (even though I'm inclined to believe it is)"

After several minutes of navigating through the base to the human living quarters: Chelsea stopped when she noticed John sitting outside Max's room; curious, she went up to him and asked: "What're you doing here?"

"Oh, the Chivvies (somehow, and I can't figure out _exactly_ how) flooded the brig with pink paint and chicken feathers, so we're keeping your sister in here until tomorrow" he replied

"...Could I? Possibly have a quick word with her? I don't know what time she'll be going in the morning so this might be my last chance to see her" Chelsea asked

Looking at her and seeing the disheartened look in her eyes: knowing what she'd been through today, John reasoned it couldn't hurt for her to say good bye: "...Just ten minutes, okay?" he said as she unlocked the door and let her in, "Thank you" she offered him a small smile, before laying her eyes on Max, and dropping the smile for a flat despondent look. Neither sister spoke, and Max didn't bother to even look at her: she simply lay on her bunk, staring up at the ceiling, deliberately paying her no attention.

"I don't know what time their hauling your ass to the police tomorrow, so this might be the only time we have left together" Chelsea stated in an emotionless tone.

Max didn't reply

"...Look, you can be mad at me for thinking I've tossed you aside for a life with the 'she-faggots' and all that. And after what's happened today, I honestly don't care anymore; but you _do _owe me an explanation"

"_For what?_" Max replied curtly

Without warning, Chelsea lunged at the bunk and punched Max hard in the shoulder: and with enough force to shunt her into the wall, "YOU FUCKING KNOW WHAT!" Chelsea screamed angrily, "I'm not a little kid anymore! Why the fuck did you do it?! _At the very least_ you own me the explanation as to _why_ you're going back to Juvi in the first place!"

Rubbing her sore shoulder and passing a heavy sigh, Max sat upright and looked her in the eye: "...I needed the money"

"Obviously: but for what?" Chelsea demanded

"...For you"

"...What?" Chelsea's mind did a flip, before realizing what Max just said, "-_What do you mean_: you needed the money for me?"

"Jesus you are so fucking dumb..." Max sighed under her breath, before enlightening Chelsea a little more: "...For _three years_ we've had to put up with that _dumb blond_ and her skanky little sisters. Oh don't get me wrong the free beds and meals were appreciated, but if it meant having to endure another moment with that _whore_, there _would've_ been a _very violent domestic disturbance_, and I got better things to do with my life than spend it rotting in jail for first degree murder. So I did some jobs for Eddy, on the condition that he give me thirty percent of the total worth of all the goods we stole. I got the money so we could run away together, and start afresh elsewhere"

Chelsea stared at her in utter incredulousness, she couldn't believe what she was hearing: "..._You stupid bitch!-_" Chelsea growled, "_You do remember_ it was Eddy that ratted us out to the cops in the first place? He only copped a plea-bargain so he could avoid doing time! WE WERE THE ONES THAT TOOK THE FUCKING WRAP FOR HIM!"

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?!" Max shot back, "That bastard sold us out, and I haven't forgotten it! The second I'm outta here, I'm gonna get our money, and then he's gonna pay for what he did!"

"What the hell makes you think you're going anywhere?" You're locked up in a top secret military base that goes on forever, in the middle of the desert, a hundred miles from anywhere! That: and you're going to jail tomorrow! _You can't get outta this one Max_; not this time..." Chelsea argued

Flopping back down on the bunk, Max huffed in frustration: "...Even if I don't get out now, they can't keep me in Juvi forever"

"Yeah? And then what? I thought you said you had better things to do than spend the rest of your life rotting in jail for first degree murder?" Chelsea shot back, but Max didn't reply. Pausing to calm down a moment, Chelsea changed the subject: "...After everything we've been through, all the sacrifices we made for each other: this is how it ends? After all this time?"

Max still didn't reply

Tears began to well up in Chelsea's eyes, as she pleaded: "...I love you Max, you're the closest family I have, and the only one I can really depend on in this word...Doesn't that mean _anything _to you?"

"...If you want sympathy, go begging elsewhere; cuz I got nothing left for a sell-out like you..." Max replied quietly as she turned on her side, facing the wall.

Unable to take it anymore, Chelsea left the room and hurried off back to her quarters, before she collapsed into a crumpled sobbing heap on her bunk, crying into her pillow, as she felt her heart break.

Max, too hard and too brittle to allow herself to show any sign of emotional weakness, bit back the tears that threatened to well up; she cursed her sister, she cursed her family, and she cursed everyone and everything else for bringing her to this. She was about to retreat into herself further, when she suddenly noticed the top of the vent just peering over the edge of the mattress on the wall; looking at the length of it, and realizing she could probably fit in there, she got off the bed and bent down to look under the bunk.

Sure enough, the vent was large enough for someone of her size to climb into; quickly, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her miniature tool kit, and upon finding the right sized screw, wasted no time unscrewing the vent from the wall.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the base:

"Any luck finding my cell?" Miles asked

"Not yet" the Waineright twins chimed together, "But we'll keep looking" Becca added, "Yeah, it can't have gotten far" Becky shrugged

"Thanks" the blond teen shrugged, "I'll try the mess again, maybe Rumble stole to try and order pizza again; (what the hell does he even want pizza for anyway? It's not like he can eat it)" He mused to himself out loud as he wandered along the corridor.

As she watched Miles pass by underneath the walkway, Roxy passed a heavy sigh as she leaned back against the wall; the alcove she'd found allowed her to watch the bots and humans come and go with relative privacy.

Except one, who'd located her via scanning for her bio-signature,

Veebee said nothing as she quietly approached the alcove, staying out of Roxy's line of sight, but being sure to make her footfalls loud enough to let her know she was there. Sitting down under the section of the walkway the alcove was on, the pink femme heaved a disappointed sigh as she looked up through the grated metal plating and thought aloud: "...Why'd you have to push them like that?"

Knowing what she was talking about, Roxy sighed: "...Because I can?"

"That's not a valid excuse" Veebee corrected her

"...I know..." Roxy bit out reluctantly; Veebee blinked in surprise

"But-, if you know, why'd you do it? It doesn't make sense"

"Who said there had to be any sense in all this?" Roxy sighed as she ran her fingers through her dreads, "...I don't get a lotta fun outta my family these days (as you know), sometimes pushing everyone's buttons is the only fun I ever get outta them" she added bitterly

"You're being surprisingly honest for once" Veebee commented

"Well? After what happened today what's the point in trying to pass it off as something else anymore? Since we're all having it out, I might as well admit that I prefer to be a cold heartless bitch, than be a sappy weak-willed bleeding heart who sickingly nice all the time" Roxy sarcastically replied

"Come on, you can't possibly mean that: I behave like a bitch too on occasion, but only when the situation calls for it; you can't be mean all the time" Veebee reasoned

"Yes I can!" Roxy shot back, "What you fail to realize is that my sisters can be too much of a bunch of goody-two-shoes, _especially _when it comes to other people. They only see the good in everyone without taking into account there're some bad mother-fuckers out there that'll eat them up for the sheep they are. Yes, I've been a bitch most of my life: but I always figured, if I can be the queen bitch, and have the all the hate thrown at _me_, rather than _them_, then they wouldn't have to go through middle and high school being the losers all the time"

"So you make yourself out to be the bully and all-round bad guy (or bad girl), just so your sisters didn't have to run the risk of being bullied?" Veebee's processor nearly glitched with astonishment, "How the frag does that justify what you've done? Doing bad things for the sake of protecting your sisters doesn't make it right!"

"Doesn't it?" Roxy shot back, "When she was in ninth grade: Rosy had to bake a cake in home-EC class to get credit on her grades, but she didn't know how to so much as put toast in the toaster let alone bake, so mom spent the whole weekend showing her how to do it right. On the Monday she went in, baked the cake, and lo and behold she burnt it to an all-carbon crisp: the icing looked like porridge, and the filling looked like it crawled out from one the jock's gym socks. Unsurprisingly she was the laughing stock of the class: so the same day, I accuse Terry Whittle of cheating on me for Amy Peters and Beverly Walters, and after one serious smack-down in girl's bathroom the whole incident in home-EC was forgotten. Sure I broke Terry's heart and gave Beverly a black eye, but at least Rosy's spirits weren't broken that day... And likewise with Jeanie: when she was twelve Randy Kirk who lived next door at the time had a thing for her, but when I found out he was trying to get with Jeanie for a bet he'd made with his friends, I marched round to his folks and accused him of spying on me while I was undressing at night. After that, he never even went within a thousand yard of our front yard...Yeah, I'm a cold, I'm manipulative, and I use other people as I see fit: but _always _so my sisters could catch a break...When Max and Chelsea moved in I could tell they were trouble from the moment we'd first heard about them, and _not just_ because of all the shit they'd pulled off in the past; I didn't want them taking advantage of my sister's good will, so I had to let them know exactly where they stood..."

"And where did _that _get you?" Veebee sarcastically replied

Roxy heaved a frustrated sigh: "...I have to admit, that little bitch Max had more balls than I thought: Chelsea too, to take a roasting like the ones I dish out. I didn't want them around cuz their both damaged goods: once a problem child _anyways_ a problem child, _they_ always come with complications, and it takes one to know one. They chose to live the lives they live so I've no sympathy for either of them. Even if Chelsea say's she's changed, how long would it be before she slipped back into her old habits like Max did? It's not worth the risk; still, at least the little bitch had the curtsey to burgle someone else and not us"

"...Do you _at least_ have any sympathy for your sisters? This is whole mess is partly _your_ fault" Veebee pointed out.

Roxy thought about it a moment, before reluctantly replying: "...Even if I am partly to blame: what do you expect me to do about it? I'm not exactly the kinda girl who lends a shoulder to cry on, or listen to sob stories and give good advice; that kinda shit's not for me, and besides, after today what'll be the point? My whole family's made it clear I'm no longer welcome in my own home. As soon as I get home I'm moving out"

"Moving out? Where?" Veebee blinked in surprise

"I don't know? Somewhere, anywhere: as long as they don't have to look at me anymore" she ground out bitterly

"That's not true: they didn't say that and you know it"

"They didn't _have to_ say it" Roxy sighed, "...They could've at least have the dignity to look me in the eye; guess I'm the only one with any guys in this fucking family; mom and dad were okay with taking Violet home, but the rest of us? ..."

She got up from out of the alcove, and started making her way towards the human living quarters.

"Wait-," Veebee stopped her, "If something happened, if one your sisters was in danger or something, would you run to help them? ...I know if they were my sisters I would..."

Roxy just stood there, her head hung low and her shoulder's slack: "...I guess? ..." she shrugged in a quiet, almost listless tone, and simply carried on walking.

As Veebee watched her walk away, she got a heavy feeling in her spark, and sighed ruefully as she got up and walked off in the other direction; feeling that there was nothing left to be said or done.

* * *

An hour later:

It was still daylight out, and the base was still quite active with lots of NEST troops and Autobots around: but she'd managed to cover a fair bit of ground since she climbed out of the air shaft. As Max traversed the desert scrub, heading towards the southern-most end of the perimeter, she was careful to keep looking over her shoulder, in case Majestrix or god knows what else might be stalking her: fortunately, her escape had gone unnoticed, and it wasn't long before she spotted the outer-most entrance to the base...

A thirty foot high set of gates, armed with razor wire and electrified bars, and flanked by two guard huts, each with an armed guard posted inside, plus a set of security cameras overlooking the whole general area. She was barely two hundred feet away, but even at this distance it wasn't worth the risk. "Shit!" she cursed under her breath; retreating back into a small crevasse in a nearby boulder, where she had a good view of the gates and perimeter fence, she sat down to restrategize, and try to think of a way around this.

But unbeknown to her, her escape hadn't gone _completely_ unnoticed...

From where he stood at the very top of the base's western mountain, Alpha Trion could see everything for miles around: the whole desert went on forever in every direction; but his view was centered on the general direction of the base's gates, and the boulder he knew Max was hiding in...

"...Are you sure this is wise?" he asked the old woman, who was sitting on his shoulder.

"It may not be the kindest decision" she replied somberly, "But it _will_ serve as the means, to give her and the others the perspective and wisdom they require"

"You _do_ realize this could be the most terrifying night of their young lives?" he reasoned

"...Not as terrifying as what lies ahead..." she turned to meet his critical gaze, "If we are to have any chance of surviving the storm that's fast approaching, we'll need all the help we can get. I did not design that 'chance convergence' at the warehouse by accident, I did so for a propose; just as tonight's event, _will be_ for a purpose" she stated firmly

Alpha Trion studied her a moment before replying: "...And you don't want me to tell them why"

"Not yet..." she replied coolly, "Let events play out as they always do, and when the time is right, they will be ready to know the truth: but for now, let us start with the little things..." she pointed to the bolder Max was hiding behind.

"Ah yes, she's not going to get very far stuck down there is she?" the pristine white mech pondered aloud as he stroked his long metallic 'beard'.

"Perhaps? A little push in the right direction?" the old woman smirked

"Perhaps?" Alpha Trion smiled, "But they'll have to get that hole in the fence seen to sooner or later..." he said offhand as he raised his arm, and as he snapped his fingers, a tiny white spark shot out of his hand and flew off, disappearing into the air.

Suddenly, and for no particular reason, Max felt compelled to backtrack the way she came; walking parallel to the perimeter for about three hundred yards, she soon spotted a piece of loose fencing, and it looked big enough for her to squeeze through. Suddenly feeling as if she were being watched, she gazed back over her shoulder and looked up towards the mountain on the far western side of the base, but nothing and no one was there, not even on the mountain.

Waving it off as her nerves getting the better of her, Max then proceeded to undertake the dangerous task of carefully navigating through the mine field. For twenty nerve-raking minutes her eyes carefully scanned the ground for the little bumps that indicated where the mines were buried, each step was as delicate as a rose petal falling to the ground, and her concentration was so focused, that twenty minutes almost felt like three hours. But when she finally reached the fence and climbed through the hole, all the tension and anxiety left her with every breath, replaced with relief and a sense of accomplishment. But she knew she wasn't out of the wood just yet, and the adrenaline that was left over served her well for dashing into the rocky terrain and disappearing into a nearby gully that ran parallel to the dirt road that ran up to the gates.

Another forty five minutes of walking and jogging soon brought her to a tall ridge: down below, about a mile away, she smiled when she was the interstate highway, and the flow of traffic streaming by in both directions. Gazing over to the west, her smile broadened when she spotted the lights of Tranquility shimmering on the horizon. Without wasting another moment, she carefully climbed her way down the ridge, and starting thinking up her best excuse for hitchhiking all the way out here in the desert: perhaps the old 'my boyfriend dumped me for my sister' routine might do the trick?

* * *

At the same moment, in Tranquility:

So when's everybody coming home daddy?" Violet asked as she watched the city whiz by.

"Hopefully soon sweetie" her father replied as he indicated to turn off the highway.

"Okay" she nodded, "Can we get Doritos tonight?"

"Oh I think that'll be okay, just as long as you remember to eat your greens at dinner" he reminded her as he pulled into the parking lot.

"Okay" Violet nodded as she got out of the car and joined her father at his side as he locked the doors.

"So? You wanna hold the shopping list this time?" he offered her a little piece of note paper

"Nah I'm good" she waved off.

As they approached the convenience store: a noise suddenly drew Will's attention to the side of the building; near the back right by the dumpsters, a man was lying on the ground with his hands clasped around his neck. He was flaying around and gasping for air, pointing at something nearby that looked just like an inhaler.

"Whoa" Buddy, are you okay?" Will called out as he ran up to the stranger

"C-...Can't-...can't-, b-b-breath!-" the stranger wheezed as he desperately gasped for breath. Picking up the inhaler and handing it to him, the stranger quickly got the device into his mouth and took several deep breaths as he inhaled the medicine: right away, his breathing slowed and calmed down, and he sighed with relief as he sat up right.

"You okay now?" Will asked as he helped him back up onto his feet

"Oh yes; thank you, thank you so much..." he smiled as he straightened himself up; "...I just have to ask; is your daughter a virgin?"

"What-

CRACK!

Before Will realized what had just happened, something hard had hit him over the head with terrific force: as he fell to the ground his vision blurred slightly, and he could feel his senses spinning and consciousness leaving him. But not before he saw the stranger walk up to Violet, grab her, press a cloth to her mouth and nose, and watch as she went limp in his arms, and carried her off out of his line of sight.

"...Violet..." he tried to call out, but his cry was little more than a weakened whisper, and as his vision failed him, the sound of a car speeding off was the last thing he heard before he finally blacked out.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at NEST base:

"Darren, we got a problem" Epps caught the teen hacker's attention

"What now?" he huffed

"I just got word from Red Alert: he and the security crew have just completed a sweep of the whole base, Firefly hasn't been seen all day, and Lizzy's been missing since the end of that meeting with your folks"

"Oh great, what're they up to now?" Darren threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "Well whatever it is they can do whatever they want! I've had enough shit today!" he stormed off.

"-Hang on, I've got an emergency comm coming through-" Trailbreaker stopped him as he activated his speakers.

**: -Yo! This is Williams down in provisions and basic equipment; I just completed the inventory and we're missing a rucksack and several other items for basic field scouting: anyone checked it out today? :**

But at that moment, another comm came through,**: This is Sanderson in the mess, who the hell raided the pantry?! We're missing three week's worth of canned food down here! If that Briggs kid's been at it again tell' em I'm kicking his ass this time! :**

And then, quite by chance, another comm came through, **: Yo, Jazz here, anyone been thirsty today? Cuz we've got like over fifty cubes missing from the rec-room energon dispensers:**

Darren and Epps both looked at one another quizzically: "...You don't think? ..."

And then...

**: This is Briggs down in the human block, Max got outta her cell via the air vent; call the security hub and have them start sweeping the base perimeter! :**

"Oh brilliant!" Darren deadpanned with a hard scowl.

* * *

**Okay, _that_ was interesting. & Now, it get's more interesting ;)**

**R&R please!**


	10. Chpt 9: Search & Rescue

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

**WARNING: Graphic death scene and gore: Squeamish? Not to worry, feel free to skip. (But fair warning; it's not gonna get any better in later chapters)**

* * *

LEMONS & CHERRIES

Chapter 9: Search & Rescue

The Interstate Highway, 30 miles east of Tranquility, 8:45pm:

"Holy crap! I still can't believe we actually did it!" Lizzy grinned as she tightened her grip on Firefly's steering wheel, "I mean-, no one _even saw_ us cross over the firing range!"

"I know! I _knew_ that short-cut through those gullies would get us to the perimeter unnoticed!" Firefly concurred in equal excitement: "And now we're home free and outta here forever!" she whooped. "AMEN!" Lizzy fist-pumped; after settling back down from their little moment of celebration, the two females sighed with relief, and turned their attention to what lay ahead: "So? Where do we go first?" Firefly asked.

"Las Vegas of course! It's seven hours into the next state, but it's worth the trek!" Lizzy smiled, "You'll love it there! And if we play our cards right (literally) we can win us some serious moolah!"

"Moolah?"

"Yeah you know? Money? We'll need something to buy food water and gas with once our supplies run dry" Lizzy reasoned

"Oh yeah" Firefly suddenly realized, "So we're gonna try and con the casino's outta their cash? Do you even know how to do that?"

"Please," Lizzy replied coolly with a smug grin, "I know how to cheat at poker, black-jack _and_ roulette, and I know how to rig a slot machine: there's a sucker born every second and ya gotta take him for all he's worth; and the suckers don't come any dumber than in Las Vegas. With my smarts and your high-end alien tech, we'll be _millionaires_ by this time tomorrow!"

"Awesome!" Firefly perked up as she weaved her way through the flow of traffic. While checking her speed to make sure they wouldn't get pulled over for speeding, Lizzy suddenly noticed a red light flashing under Firefly's speedometer; "Hey, what's that flashing light for?"

"That? It's my comm alert, my aft-headed sisters are trying to comm me: but don't worry, I disengaged my communications functions _and_ Autobot tracker signal. No one knows where we are or where we're going" the femme confidently replied.

"Sweetness" Lizzy smiled as she hit the accelerator, and together they took off for the state border.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at NEST base:

"Ugh! She's not picking up! She's _deliberately _disengaged her comm _and_ her Autobot tracker signal!" Bluebird huffed in annoyance as she tried comming her little sister for the umpteenth time: with Prime, Majestrix and the rest of the Autobots looking on in a mix of concern and annoyance while the Ainsley sisters/cousins stood on the main platform, looking on with worry and frustration.

"I just finished the secondary bio-signature sweep of the whole base: Lizzy's nowhere on any of the levels" Red Alert added,

"And she's _still _not picking up her cell: she must've turned it off" Jeanie huffed as she snapped her flip-phone shut

"What reason could there be for the two of them to run off like this?" Majestrix mused aloud

"Well it wouldn't be the first time Firefly's gotten frustrated with us" Veebee shrugged: "She's tried running away before but she never gets very far"

"But Lizzy's _never _run away from home before" Jeanie pointed out, "Why would they go together?"

"Rebellious teenage youth? I don't know," Bishop shrugged as he commed Max's search party: "Report, have you found her yet?"

: **Nope, and she sure as pit ain't anywhere near the base anymore:** Rumble replied

Bishop frowned with confusion, "Elaborate" he replied

**: I tracked her scent; it would seem she got out via a hole in the perimeter fence, after successfully traversing the mine field. She then walked all the way to the interstate just beyond the outer-most ridge: from there she must have hitched a ride back to Tranquility:** Ravage explained. **: As for the brats? It would seem they managed to jump the fence just past the firing-range's eastern most end; the area where those rocks are stacked up? They must have taken a running jump, before landing on the other side and following one of the gullies along to the interstate:**

"So Max is heading home while Lizzy and Firefly are heading for either home or god knows where," Darren realized, "...Great" he sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, "This is all we need"

"We can't just let them go! Mom and dad will go postal if they find out!" Allie panicked

"I'm not worried about Max; she can take care of herself, but if Barricade _is still_ looking for us she won't stand a chance against him!" Chelsea panicked

"Well what're we gonna do?" said Rosy

"We will look for them" Prime stated

"What? But what about Barricade?" Moonracer pointed out

"Searching for the children takes greater priority than looking for our quarry: and if they _are_ still Barricade's targets, we have to get to them before _he_ and the other Decepticons do" Optimus stated, before opening a comm line to Crystalwing **: Crystalwing, are you receiving me? Over:**

**: Loud and clear Prime :** the femme replied as she gazed down at the planet earth from her orbit.

**: There has been a change of plans; Max, Firefly and Lizzy have absconded from the base, we need you to try and locate them, and track their movements:** Prime ordered

**: Understood; but what about Barricade and the cons? :**

**: The mission objective still stands, but it is essential we locate the younglings first, before**_** they**_** do: **

**: Understood, give me some time to scan their previous coordinates, I'll get back to you when I find them, or Barricade: **Crystalwing replied

**: Copy that, Prime out: **

"So now we go look for them?" Epps threw in, "Even with Crystalwing keeping tabs from up in space it'll be like lookin' for three needles in a haystack; Tranquility ain't New York but it's still a big city"

"Then we're going too" Darren stated

"What?" Majestrix blinked in surprise

"Look, we know Tranquility inside and out, and we know where Max and Lizzy's favorite hang-outs are (among other places). You'll have a better chance of finding them if you let come too" Darren replied.

"And besides, if Barricade _is_ still after us like you said, you'll have a much better chance of catching him while we're searching for them" Roxy threw in, the cousins all glared at her: "What? It just makes logical sense is all" she shrugged

Dismissing her remark and focusing on the subject at hand: Prime nodded in agreement, "If you know where to find them, then we will have a better chance of locating them"

"What about the mission?" Bishop asked

"The mission objective has not changed, with the exception that my team will diverge from the main route to locate the younglings" Prime stated as he turned to address the Autobots: "Teams two through to six will continue the sweep and report their findings. My team will head up the search with the Ainsley children accompanying us"

"Wait!-" Bluebird interrupted, "Can we come too? Firefly's our sister, and if she runs into Barricade she'll be unprepared for him, and if she _has_ got Lizzy with her the situation could escalate quickly". "We can take the younglings: you guys are gonna need your driver's sides free if you need to transform in a hurry" Tangostar threw in

Prime pondered Bluebird's request for a moment, before replying: "Very well, but you stay close at all times; do not deviate from us unless I say so, understood?"

"Understood" the femmes replied hastily

"Autobot's, you have your orders. Transform and roll out!" Prime ordered: as the other Autobots transformed into their altmode's and allowed their human passengers to climb into them, he turned to Majestrix, "Remain on stand-by, and be ready to mobilize the airborne units if we require additional reinforcements"

"Understood" she nodded, "But you don't seriously think you'll need air support, do you?"

Prime hesitated, "...I do not know: but my 'gut' is telling me something about all this is 'off' somehow"

"Well, be that as it may: don't start the party without me" Majestrix smirked

"Not unless _you_ crash it first" Prime smiled before he transformed into his Peterbuilt form and attached his battle-trailer to his rear. Together the Autobots sped out of the base with several armored NEST trucks bringing up the rear: Bluebird, Tangostar and Veebee fell in behind Prime and Trailbreaker, as they made their way to the interstate.

* * *

Tranquility, sometime later on the north side of little China town:

"You take care now darlin'!" the track driver waved goodbye

"See ya round 'Chuck'" Max replied as she climbed down out of the passenger side of Chuck's truck, and hopped onto the sidewalk. As the truck sped off, Max looked around with a sigh of relief: it was good to be back in the city again, but she couldn't relax just yet; there things she had to see to first. Making her way down the back alleys and side streets, she soon arrived in the red light district: but surprisingly, hardly anyone was around. A handful of Johns were cruising the streets looking for a good time, as the pimps were keeping a watchful eye on their girls: the dealers and junkies were doing business as usual, and even the local gang was out looking to have some fun on the town.

But the atmosphere didn't feel right: there was a tense feeling in the air, the kind that came from knowing something bad was about to happen; she couldn't put her finger on it, but Max could see it in the eyes of the prostitutes, the junkies and the others who frequented this part of town. Dismissing it and putting it out of her mind: Max made her was to MR Wu's Pawn shop at the end of the street; entering through the wooden beaded door curtain into a shop full of clutter and junk, she soon spotted the man she was looking for,

"Hey Lee!" she grabbed the young man's attention; spotting her over a pile of old magazines, the young man nearly jumped out of his skin when he recognized her. "Max?!" he gasped in alarm: looking around to make sure no one was in the back room or behind the counter, he jumped up out of his chair and rushed to her, "What the hell are you doing here?! My dad'll flip if he catches you here!" he hissed, trying to keep his voice down.

"You're dad's hardly ever here" Max pointed out in a deadpan tone

"But my Grandpa is, and his hearing ain't gone yet!" he calmed down a little, "...Where've you been anyway? You've been gone nearly a week!"

"Sorry, I got waylaid by other business" she lied with her poker face

"Well what the hell was so damn important you couldn't call! Eddy's been looking for you everywhere, _and_ going postal over those goods you didn't deliver"

"He found out?" Max panicked slightly

"No (not yet at least), I didn't say anything: but he's starting to get suspicious" he replied.

"It doesn't matter: I'm leaving tonight"

"You're leaving?" he blinked in surprise, "To go where?"

"I don't know, anywhere but here that's for damn sure" Max replied, "I just came by to give you this" she handed him her SIM card, "Make sure you get rid of it, I don't want anyone coming after me"

"But-, what about Chelsea? Where's she at?"

Max paused somberly, "...She's not coming"

Sensing that she didn't want to talk about it, Lee changed the subject and asked: "So? What're you gonna do now? Before you leave I mean"

"I gotta check in with Hammer and Marcus, they're holding some stuff for me, after that, I'm heading to the rail depot and hopping on the first East-bound train outta here" she replied

"Well? Good luck with that, just be sure you keep an eye out for Eddy: he's totally pissed with you for taking off the way you did"

"It was totally outta my hands. Where's he at now?"

"Still at the warehouse I guess? I tried calling him earlier this morning but he didn't pick up; it's real weird, I tried calling Tyrone, Biggy, Becks, pretty much everyone, but no one answered. Either they all got their phones switched off (which I _very_ highly doubt) or something's going on he and rest of them ain't told me about"

Max frowned in confusion, but dismissed it: "Whatever. I've got no time left for those shit-heads; I'm bailing out while I still got the opportunity...Been nice knowing you Lee" she turned to leave the shop.

"Wait!-" he stopped her, "If Chelsea drops by looking for you: what do I tell her?"

Max hesitated a moment, before a look of bitterness cast over her expression: "...Tell her to go to hell..."

* * *

At around the same time elsewhere in the city:

**: Yo Darren! You still there?:** Rosy called through on Tangostar's comm

"It's an open comm Rosy, you don't have to keep pressing the button on the dash" Darren sighed with exasperation:

**: Oh right, well anyway, we just finished trailing around the mall and we ain't seen nothing, how're you doing your end? :**

"Nothing; we've covered the arcade, the prank and joke shop and the DVD rental store. We got zip"

**: Okay, we're coming back your way:** Tangostar replied as she reappeared in Trailbreaker's rear view mirror, rejoining the Autobot search party.

"What about you Chelsea, any luck?" Darren asked

**: We just finished checking out lil' Italy and no one's seen Max there: we're coming back over your way:** Chelsea replied

"Okay..." Darren sighed as he leaned back in Trailbreaker's driver's seat and passed a deep sigh; "Don't worry, we _will _find them" Trailbreaker assured him via his radio speakers.

"It's not just that," Darren sighed, "I can understand Max taking off, but Lizzy? What's her excuse? And what if they don't want to come back? It's not like anything will have changed"

"I know" his guardian replied somberly, "But at the very least we have to make sure their okay"

"I know" Darren said: he was about to say something else when his cell phone rang, it was his father; pressing the speaker button and placing it in its holder, he straightened up as he answered: "Hi dad, what's up?"

: -Oh thank God! _Where the hell are you?!_ I've been trying to reach you for hours!: his father demanded in a frantic voice, the urgency of his tone made Darren snap out of his funk and pay attention: "Dad? What's wrong?"

: It's Violet, she's been kidnapped- : Darren pulled over hard to the side of the road and slammed on Trailbreaker's breaks, the other Autobots all served to avoid rear-ending the Black Lincoln MKS and pulled over too. On the other end of the open comms the panicked voices of his cousins could be heard frantically demanding to know what just happened. "SHUT UP!-" Darren shouted, and the frequency fell silent: "What happened?!" Darren demanded

: Your uncle Will and Violet were out getting groceries when someone attacked them and knocked him out: he's got a concussion but he's okay, witnesses outside the convenience store said they saw a black Ford Escort speeding off with a girl in the front seat. The police are already out looking for it and an Amber Alert's been issued, but when I rang the base to try and get a hold of you, they said you were out looking for Max and Lizzy: what the hell's going on? :

"I-" Darren hesitated, "It's kinda complicated, Max managed to get off the base and Lizzy's run off with one of the bots: we're searching for them right now"

: Well get looking for that Ford Escort too! God only knows where the perv is now! Will and Lorie are going outta their minds with worry; I'll be in touch-: Peter said before abruptly ending the call

Darren sat there, dazed for a moment with his head spinning, trying to work out what the hell to do.

**: Darren?! What the hell just happened?! :** Jeanie demanded worryingly

**: Report! Are you both okay? :** Prime ordered

Snapping back to the here and now, Darren replied: "...I-, I just got a call from my dad; something happened..."

* * *

Meanwhile, across town:

"What the hell just happened? The line's gone dead" Roxy huffed as she tried to activate Veebee's comm switch.

"Either they must have entered a black spot, or something's blocking the signal from getting through: which is kinda weird cuz my scanners aren't detecting any interference" Veebee mused aloud through her radio speakers.

"Must be the latter, you can't get a good cell reception in this end of town anyway" Roxy shrugged, "Anyway, we've checked out Lizzy's favourite pizza take-out, and ice cream store and there's no sign of the lil' twip; guess we better head back and see what all the fuss was about before we lost them"

"Yeah I guess?" Veebee mentally shrugged, "I do have a question though: what'll you do if we find her first?"

"Lizzy? Give her a chewing out first before kicking her butt home, let mom and dad blow a fuse at her. But if it's Max? Hey, no love loss here, if she's gone she's gone" Roxy shrugged

"Okay, just don't go making an aft of yourself okay?" Veebee pointed out as she pulled out of a box junction and into the lane heading for Prime's position.

"Hey, you let me worry about that, just be sure to cover me if she tries to gouge my eyes out or somethin'" Roxy replied nonchalantly.

After several minutes driving, the pink VW beetle came to a halt at a four way junction with traffic lights; as they waited for the lights to change: Roxy casually glanced over at the car on her left, and her thoughts suddenly came to a screeching halt...

There, slumped over in the front passenger seat of a black Ford Escort was Violet: half conscious, she turned her head and saw Roxy staring back at her in shock; "Help me" she mouthed weakly, before passing out. Gazing up at the driver, Roxy gasped in alarm as he made eye-contact with her: in that one tense moment of realization, both of them realized what the other had seen; the driver of the Ford Escort slammed on the accelerator and took off across the junction, narrowly missing a pizza delivery van and a fire truck. "SHIT!-" Roxy cursed, and without even thinking she slammed on Veebee's accelerator and took off after the Ford Escort.

"WHAT?! What're you doing?!" Veebee panicked as she tried to regain control of her driving systems.

"HE'S GOT HER!" Roxy replied frantically, trying to keep pace with the Ford Escort as it sped through the traffic.

"What?! Who's got who?!"

"Didn't you see?! That creep driving the car in front's got Violet in the front seat!"

"But I-, _What?!_"

"-Listen! Take the wheel and whatever you do _don't lose him!_ I gotta make a call!-" Roxy stated as she got out her cell phone from her pocket and dialed in Darren's cell number, she didn't even give him time to respond as she blurted out: "Darren! Wherever you guys are _you better move it!_ I've just seen Violet sitting in some creep's car, passed out! We're chasing him right now so whatever you got in mind to stop him, _do it!_-"

* * *

Meanwhile, just south of little Italy:

The warehouse was as beaten up, dilapidated and run down as ever, only this time it seemed a lot more drab than usual: but Max honestly didn't care, it's who occupied it that was now the subject of her concern. As she strolled up to the front entrance, the main delivery doors were open as usual, but where were Marcus and Daniel? They were usually guarding the doors at this time of the early evening...

As she approached closer, something in her gut told her this wasn't right; there was usually music blasting from out of the office windows, along with the smell of alcohol and weed drifting up on the breeze. But it was totally silent, and the air was as still as water in a glass...

Something was wrong

Cautiously she approached the doors, peered in, and sure enough no one was there: but as she looked around, she instantly spotted the dark blood-spatter on the walls, and the blood trickling down the stairs, followed by the heavy metallic smell of blood and the putrid smell of rotting meat. With her stomach tightening up into a knot, Max warily climbed up the stairs to the office, and as she pushed the door open, her throat clamped shut in attempt to stop herself from throwing up.

Strewn about the office in a bloody mess, were the bodies of her former gang: Eddy and the other guys had been shot through the head execution style, and from the way they were slumped over, it looked like they had been made to get down on their hands and knees first; but the girls? They were a different story. Six headless naked bodies were tied to the chairs and tables, their skin completely removed, exposing the muscle and ligaments, while their abdomens and groins were a just a complete mess of butchered flesh and bone with the abdominal organs slopped out in a gross slimy mess. But what made it worse were the countless flies swarming about, filling the room with a loud droning buzz while their maggots squirmed and wriggled about the corpses, devouring every inch of flesh in their wake: along with the rats that were also gorging themselves on the bloody feast.

Panicked, horrified, and disgusted beyond measure, Max staggered back out into the corridor where she allowed herself to vomit. She pitched forward as her stomach expelled the remains of her previous meal: and with it the brief but intense horror that was racking her whole body with shock. After a minute or two trying to regain herself, a sound outside made her snap back to reality.

Cautiously peering back into the office (being careful not to step inside again), she suddenly saw a large circular red light glowing through the window; it was the strangest thing she'd ever seen, what on earth was it?

But then suddenly, it blinked

It wasn't a light, it an eye: _a large robotic eye_, and before she could even figure out what or who it was, the whole office crashed and caved in as a giant black clawed hand tried to grab her. Max jerked back instinctively, narrowly avoiding its grip, but as she ran to the stairs a claw sliced her hoodie and snagged her shoulder; but she didn't dare look back as she bolted down the stairway and out of the warehouse. Whatever it was came crashing through the building as it chased after her: ducking into a narrow alleyway, Max quickly looked back and recognized the thing as Barricade; with an angry snarl the Decepticon tried to grab her, but the alley was too small for him to squeeze through, and as Max ran along well out of his reach, he backed up, transformed and took off.

Stopping to catch her breath, Max desperately racked her brain, pushing aside the images of the massacre and trying to think of a way out of this: when suddenly, the sound a train rolling by caught her attention...

"The depot" she realized, and in that moment she had an idea. The train depot wasn't far away, and after navigating her way through the labyrinth of back-alleys she soon came to the depot; being careful to watch for Barricade: who had been tracking her parallel to alleyway's she's ran down. After climbing over the fence, Max weaved her way in and out of the stationary train carriages and carts, until she spotted one of the entrances to the subway. Hearing the characteristic transformation sequence not far behind, it was safe to surmise that Barricade was coming after her on two legs: which meant he could pursue her much more nimbly.

As she approached the tunnel, she heard exactly what she wanted to hear, the sound of a train fast approaching: stopping at the mouth of the tunnel and peering in, she could feel the air rushing up as the train was rounding the last corner of the track. Looking back over her shoulder, she gasped as she spotted Barricade, and he spotted her. Looking back at the train, she realized she'd have to time it right for her idea to work, and as the knot in her stomach tightened harder with every passing second, she started bouncing back on forth of each foot as her legs readied themselves to move. Then, as the black and white Decepticon came within range and the train was within seconds of the tunnel entrance: Max took off as fast as her legs could carry her, and with one mighty bound she jumped across the tracks, narrowly missing the train as it sped past her, but Barricade couldn't stop quick enough, and went under the train as it crashed into him with a ear-splitting CRASH! The train and three of its carriages derailed and skidded across the graveled ground, but luckily didn't flip over: all at once metal ground on metal with a horrible SCREEEEEAACH! As Barricade was carried under the train and across the tracks for some distance, until he and the carriages crashed into a row of empty diesel containers.

Max didn't stop to look back, and carried on running until she spotted a long line of empty train carts: she ran up to one cart, climbed inside, heaved the sliding door shut, and scurried into the farthest end of the cart, waiting and listening; hoping and praying he hadn't survived.

* * *

Elsewhere, not too far away:

"This is insane! Where'd you say he's heading again?!" Jeanie demanded

: Down Pankhurst street! Through the financial district towards the eastern interstate!: Roxy yelled back over the cell phone's speaker,: I've still got him but you gotta hurry!:

"We _are_ hurrying! But it's gonna take time for us to get over that way!" Chelsea retorted as she switched the cell phone off.

"I know this is urgent but should we split up like this?" Bluebird interjected, "Prime and the others are right behind us but there's no one on point to cover us from the front"

**: Do not worry Bluebird:** Prime assured her over the open comm,**: From this position I can see quite-**

But Prime didn't finish as a black blur crashed into his side and all but toppled him off the highway; suddenly the whole Autobot team was thrown into chaos as eight big black Decepticons leapt out from a couple of side streets and blindsided them. All but Trailbreaker and the VW sisters transformed and wasted no time in going on the offensive, and within barely a second the highway was a giant smack-down free for all; while the humans looked on in a mix of shock and horror.

"PRIME!" Trailbreaker cried out in a panic as he watched the Peterbuilt take a hard left hook to the face plates.

**: GO! Get as far away as you can! Protect the children at all costs! :** Prime ordered

**: But what about you?! :** Tangostar panicked

**: We'll be fine! NOW GO! THAT IS AN ORDER! :** Optimus bellowed as he tackled the con that punched him.

Trailbreaker was quick to catch up to the femmes as they sped off: but from another street, three more black trucks swerved out and chased after them.

**: Guys, we got three more cons on our tailpipes! :** Trailbreaker yelled out, but no one could reply.

"Shit! We're on our own!" Darren cursed

**: What'd we do?! :** Rosy panicked

Looking back at the trucks, Darren suddenly had an idea: "We'll keep them distracted, and lead them away while you go on and join up with Roxy and Veebee!"

**: WHAT?! But Darren you can't-:**

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO ARGUE!" Darren shut her up, "-Just do as I say, and we'll join up as soon as we can! NOW MOVE IT!" he stated as he took Trailbreaker's wheel; simultaneously, a set of small guns flipped out from under the license plate on the back of the Lincoln MKS and opened fire at the nearest truck. As the vehicle swerved, it transformed into another Decepticon, and took off after Trailbreaker on all fours like a wolf.

Jeanie, Ally, Chelsea and Rosy watched helplessly as Trailbreaker took off down another street: the wolf-con followed them, but the remaining two trucks stayed with the femmes.

"SHIT! Their still following us! What do we do now?!" Chelsea cursed.

Scanning the immediate area, Bluebird spotted something that gave her an idea; "I have an idea, follow me!" she said as she turned off the highway and sped into the train depot with Tangostar following right on her bumper. An unusually large number of fire trucks, ambulances and police vehicles were congregated around a particular section of the depot: and they soon saw why...

"Whoa! One the trains derailed!" Rosy gasped

"What're we doing here?" Jeanie asked

"With all these humans around the cons won't risk breaking cover: they're still tailing us but their keeping their distance: look-" Bluebird directed her rear-view mirror, showing the two trucks as they entered the depot: but turned off in another direction, keeping parallel with the femmes from the other side of the derailment.

"Okay, but how do we lose them?" Chelsea asked

"We'll take care of that, but first, we gotta find you somewhere to hide..." Bluebird replied as she turned and drove along a long row of coal carts; after driving down several more rows of stationary carts, carriages and engines, she soon spotted an empty row of carts at the farthest end of the depot. Driving along to the rear end of the carts, she and Tangostar both stopped and opened their doors, allowing the humans to get out, before transforming and placing them into one of the carts. "Okay, you stay here, and whatever you do, _don't get out_ until we come back for you"

"You promise you'll come back?" Rosy panicked,

"We promise, now hide..." Bluebird replied as she slid the sliding door shut, "Okay, now let's take care of the Decepti-creeps!" she said as she fired up her wrist-mounted guns and took off back the way they came with Tangostar covering her back.

Inside the cart, the girls huddled together in fear: "You don't think they'll find us do you?" Rosy anxiously asked

"I don't know..." Jeanie replied in equal nerviness. Suddenly, the cart shunted forward, nearly throwing them backwards, and beneath their feet the girls could sense the vibrations of the wheels moving along the tracks. "We're moving?" Chelsea frowned in alarm; opening the other door on the opposite side, the girls were dismayed to see, that indeed the cart was moving, and steadily picking up speed.

"Shit! There's a train coupled on the other end!" Jeanie cursed

"We gotta jump off!" Rosy stated

"And risk breaking an arm or a leg? If those cons _are _nearby we won't be able to move as quickly!" Chelsea pointed out

"So what, we just stay here?!" Allie panicked, "Where's this train even going anyway?"

"Don't know; but I guess we'll find out sooner or later..." Chelsea replied as she leaned out the door, and watched as the depot rolled on by and was soon left behind.

* * *

A little while later, elsewhere:

"Where the hell are they?! _And where the hell are the god-damn cops?!_" Roxy vented as she stayed with the Ford Escort, "This is getting stupid! Sooner or later we're gonna loose him!"

"Ohohohoh! I got an idea!-" Veebee perked up; lining up as close to their quarry as she could, she held her speed steadily as a small nozzle folded out of her side, and shot a small glowing blue ball of-, what looked like bubblegum, right at the bumper on the left side of the license plate. "Yes!" Veebee cheered as she bounced on her tires, but had to swerve sharply to avoid a car that nearly blindsided her; pulling over onto the side of the highway, she slowed down as she straightened up and rejoined the flow of traffic (though not without a few honks from several angry drivers).

"What the hell are you doing?! We're gonna loose him!" Roxy exclaimed angrily

"Chill will ya!-" Veebee reassured her, "I just shot some of my energon at his rear bumper: it won't matter if we lose him, all we gotta do is follow the residue trail and it'll lead us to wherever he's going"

"...Okay? ..." Roxy frowned cautiously as she flipped her phone open and called up her cousin: "Darren? Where the hell are you guys?!" she demanded angrily

: Sorry Roxy we've been having a little con trouble-: Darren replied as he turned onto the highway, sporting a fresh set of cuts and bruises: along with Trailbreaker who was covered in dents, dings and scratched paint. : We just finished taking care of him, where're you at now? : He replied.

"Still heading east, he's just turned off the highway," Roxy said as she caught a final glimpse of the kidnapper before he disappeared amongst the traffic, "Looks like he's heading outta the city"

: Stay on his ass, I'll be with you as soon as I can; the others are having con trouble too so they might be a while:

"Whatever, just get over here!" Roxy snapped the phone shut

"You know? You're pretty worked up for someone who doesn't care much for others" Veebee pointed out

Roxy hesitated, "...Being a bitch and _behaving _like a bitch are two different things. Besides, I'm not _that_ heartless" she stated reluctantly

"But you said-"

"I _know_ what I said!-" Roxy snapped, trying to keep her nerve in check as she ran her fingers through her hair, "...I was wrong okay? You happy now?"

"Yes" Veebee smirked

"_I swear_ if you tell _anyone _I'm going soft, I'm gonna take the biggest potato I can find and shove it all the way up you're-"

"-Hey! It's okay, we're cool: I won't tell anyone" Veebee assured her, "And anyway, what's a potato?"

Roxy blinked in surprise.

* * *

Meanwhile, near the California/Nevada state boarder:

"Finally! We're almost outta Cali!" Lizzy perked up

"Finally! I thought this state was gonna go on forever" Firefly sighed with relief

"Yeah It's pretty big" Lizzy nodded, "Hey how' bout some music? We still got a long drive to Las Vegas: you look like a Nickleback kinda bot"

"Sure thing" Firefly obliged, and switched on her radio.

:-We interrupt this programme for an emergency broadcast. An Amber Alert has been issued for Violet Madeline Ainsley-

Lizzy gasped in shock as she served over to the side of the highway, and slammed on Firefly's breaks, screeching to halt mere inches from the concrete barrier.

-Who was abducted by a white male in his mid to late forties, of medium to average build with light auburn hair, a short moustache, glasses, and driving a black Ford Escort XR3; witnesses have sighted the suspect driving eastbound out of the city, heading towards-

As she sat there listening to the radio, Lizzy stared off into space, completely shocked and amazed; whipping out her cell phone and switching it on, she was further surprised to see Jeanie had left over thirty messages, all telling her to call her right now.

"What's wrong?! Why'd we stop?!" Firefly demanded in dismay.

Looking up ahead, Lizzy spotted a sign that read: Leaving so soon? Do come back again! And behind her in the rear-view mirror, there was another sign that read: Welcome to California! We hope you have fun!

"...Violet..." Lizzy blurted out as she sat there, trying to work out what to do...

* * *

**Well, that was pretty fast-paced, and a little gory at that warehouse, which reminds me...**

**Pop-quiz time: decapitation, excoriation and hacking the abdomen into mince meat, sound familiar? Well stay tuned, cuz it's about to get a lot more grizzly from here on out. Just warning you is all.**

**Do let me know what you think, and stay tuned! ;)**


	11. Chpt 10: The Hills Have Optics

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

**WARNING: It's pretty gnarly in certain places. Blood, gore, scenes of murder and torture (somewhere, it's in there), a serial killer's secret rooms and all their gory secrets, near-attempted murder, a knife and arrow to the shoulders, and quite a bit of profanity; you have been duly warned.**

* * *

LEMONS & CHERRIES

Chapter 10: The Hills Have Optics

The Tranquility train depot, 10:27pm:

"Okay, I think that'll do..." Bluebird huffed with exhaustion as she threw the offline Decepticon down on the ground and dusted herself off. The fight had been relatively quick and decisive: between the two of them, Bluebird and Tangostar had been able to defeat their pursuers without drawing any attention from the emergency services attending the derailment.

"Decepticons? Heh! More like decepti-wusses!" Tangostar scoffed triumphantly. At that moment, two loud engines grabbed their attention as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe came speeding along, transformed, and stopped just in front of them.

"We heard you two ladies were having con trouble" Sideswipe smugly grinned

"Nope, we're good" Bluebird chimed, gesturing to the two unconscious cons

"Slag, you could'a saved some for us" Sunstreaker grumbled

"Not much to save I'm afraid, they kinda went down easy"

"Yeah..."Tangostar nodded, "Well, better go and get the younglings back..." she transformed and took off for the opposite end of the depot with her sister and the Lambo twins close behind: but when they reached the area they'd left the girls in, the femmes were taken aback to find to see the row of train carts were gone.

"Wha-, where're the carts?" Tangostar gasped

"Carts? What carts?" Sunstreaker frowned

"The train carts we told the younglings to hide in: unless there was a train attached to the other end they should be-" But then it suddenly hit Bluebird like a ton of bricks, ",-Oh SLAGGIT!" she facepalmed hard in annoyance.

"You mean they're on _a train_ right now?!" Sideswiped gawked

"Well how were we to know?!" Tangostar retorted, "(Not that it's an excuse, but still-)" she threw in

"Okay-" Sunstreaker facepalmed, "Sides, comm Glen and tell him to hack the depot's train schedules, see what train left from this track, it'll tell us where they're going; I'll go back and keep an eye on the cons until they can be picked up" he transformed back into his altmode, "You two stay here, unless you hear from the younglings, you're with Sides" he added before speeding off back the way he came.

"Uhg! I'm an _idiot!_" Bluebird dropped her head into her hands, "-How the slag could I not check to see if there was a train first!"

"Eh, don't beat yourself up, me and Sunny have done way dumber things with the humans" Sideswipe threw in, trying to lighten the mood (though not with much success)

After driving back through the depot and past the derailment, Sunstreaker pulled up behind the buildings where they'd left the cons; but to his dismay they were gone. Quickly transforming and scanning the area millimetre by millimetre, he was greatly confused, for the evidence that was all around didn't make sense. There were no energon residue-trails leading anywhere else besides the route they took pursuing the femmes, they just stopped where they fell: there were no footprints, tire-tracks or anything to suggest anyone had been past here. It was if they had just vanished into thin air...

"This doesn't make sense..." Sunstreaker mused to himself: he hated mysterious happenstances like this; in fact, he hated anything that forced his CPU's logic-processors to work harder than usual. Glancing over at the derailment, he noticed how ugly the crash scene looked; scanning the wreckage long-distance, he scowled when he picked up the energon residue of one particular con: "_Barricade..._" he growled. The slagger must have been knocked down by the train as it came out of the subway tunnel, but for what reason the con was on the tracks he didn't know.

In any case, Barricade wasn't there now...

* * *

30 miles east of Tranquility:

"Where the hell are we now?" Rosy asked offhand as she peered out of the cart

"You said that fifteen minutes ago, we _still_ don't know" Chelsea deadpanned

The twilight was steadily turning into night, and for the last half hour or so the train had travelled through a fair portion of Tranquillity's outer limits, before rolling past a wide stretch of countryside and farmland, and now passing through thick forests with steep sloping valleys that seemed to go on forever. All the while the girls watched the scenery fly by, worrying and wondering where they were going.

"Hey, I think we're slowing down?" Allie said offhand: sure enough, the train was steadily decreasing its speed, until it was barley going at ten miles per hour; peering out the right side of the cart, Jeanie spotted the reason why up ahead. "We're going around a tight curve" she stated, "This might be our only chance to jump off safely" she said, coming back over to the left-side door.

"You think?" Rosy nervously asked as she gazed down at the steep embankment, "I mean-, it's a bit of a jump down" she swallowed hard.

"Ah it's not rocket science-" Chelsea waved off confidently, "You just jump, make sure you land feet first, and curl up and roll until you stop: trust me, you'll be okay"

"You sure?" Jeanie asked

"'Course, it ain't the first time I jumped from a train..." Chelsea replied, but her cousins simply looked her as if to say: huh? When?. "Uh-, never mind-" Chelsea waved off, realizing she probably shouldn't have said that aloud, "Just-, follow my lead okay? Watch...". And without warning, she jumped the ten foot drop down onto the gravelled embankment, curled up tightly into the foetal position, and rolled down into the thick undergrowth.

"...Oh hell-" Jeanie though to hell with it, "You two don't chicken out on me okay?" Jeanie nervously stated before she jumped from the train; "JEANIE!" Allie panicked, but sure enough, Jeanie followed Chelsea's move and landed on the embankment and rolled down into the greenery below. Looking at one another, Allie and Rosy realized they didn't have a lot of choice, and reluctantly both jumped off the train. After landing with a thud on the gravel and rolling down into the thicket: Jeanie and Chelsea where there to help them up onto their feet.

"Well? That wasn't so bad" Chelsea said as she brushed the dead leaves and twigs off of Allie's denim jacket.

"I suppose not" Rosy huffed, "But _at least_ give us some warning next time!"

"Fair enough" she nodded in reply, "So where the hell are we?"

"Judging from the position of the sunset, we've been heading east: and looking at this mixed deciduous and evergreen mix I'd say somewhere in the Tranquility national Park" Jeanie gestured to the trees high up on the valley walls.

"You can tell that just by looking at the trees?" Chelsea blinked in surprise

"Sure, I went on a school field trip to the Park when I was in ninth grade, I really enjoyed it" Jeanie shrugged offhand

"Okay..." Chelsea gave her a weird look, "Well, we gotta find a way outta here: it's gonna be dark real soon". "Wait a sec..." Jeanie checked her cell phone, "-_Yes!_ Thank you god!-" she sighed with relief: "You got a signal?" Allie perked up; "Only two bars, but it's the first signal I've got since leaving the depot-" Jeanie replied as she called Bluebird. She didn't have to wait long before the femme picked up the other end.

: Jeanie?! Oh thank Primus! I'm sorry! I'm _so_ sorry! I didn't know there was a train attached to the carts!- :

"-Bluebird calm down, it's okay, we're all okay" Jeanie was quick to calm her down

: Well where in the pit are you guys?! :

"Somewhere in the Tranquility National Park"

: Okay listen, keep your cell on and try to find a road, but stay outta sight until you see us approach okay? :

"But what about the signal? This is the first time I managed to get reception and I can barely hear you as it is"

: Let Crystalwing take care of it, it's what she's up there for: she'll relay your coordinates to me as soon as she's got a lock on you; try to find some higher ground so the signal's got a much better range:

"Okay, but what about Violet? Any word on her?"

: Roxy and Veebee have got a lock on the kidnapper's car and are tailing him as we speak. Darren and Trailbreaker are meeting up with them so they'll be getting back up real soon:

"And Lizzy?"

: ...Still no news I'm afraid: Bluebird replied sombrely.

"...Okay..." Jeanie sighed, "See you guys soon..." she snapped the flip-phone shut.

"Well?" Chelsea asked

"...They'll track the cell phone signal, but we gotta get to higher ground and find a road"

"Well we better get moving then" Allie gestured to a small trail leading up into the forest; Jeanie reached for the little torch in her back pocket and took point, lighting the way through the encroaching darkness.

Back on the train, Max peered out of her cart, and frowned with concern as she spotted a railway crossing up ahead; standing at the front of the queue of vehicles was a police cruiser.

"SHIT!" she cursed under her breath, "That bastard doesn't die easily". Running to the other side of the cart, Max gazed down at the embankment, and jumped off the train. After a fall and tumble down into the undergrowth, she picked herself up and wasted no time running into the forest, trying to put as much distance between her and the railway crossing, before the train cleared it and the Decepticon had a clear line of sight up into the forest.

At the railway crossing, Detective Marcus and his partner sat in their cruiser, idly watching the train roll by. Looking up at the sky, the detective frowned: "Looks like it might be cloudy tonight" he said offhand.

* * *

A little while later, elsewhere:

As she pulled off the highway and onto a small country road, Roxy glanced to her side as she spotted Trailbreaker and Darren pull up behind her.

"Finally! You guys took your sweet time!" Roxy huffed

**: Sorry, the fight on the highway backed up the traffic and we had trouble clearing the police watch points:** Darren apologized over the open comm,:** So fill me in, where's the perv now? :**

**: We're at least ten minutes or so behind him, I think he knows we're still tailing him: **Veebee replied, **: But fortunately my energon residue's leaving a clear trail to follow, even over this kinda terrain:**

"_Where are we_ anyway?" Roxy frowned up at the thick forest they were now driving through.

**: According to my GPS, we're in the Tranquility National Park:**

"Seriously? We could be in the Amazon for all I know" Roxy replied offhand: a forest was forest as far as she was concerned; "Still, it makes sense his hide-out would be somewhere like this: loada privacy"

"Privacy? For what?" Veebee asked curiously

"Trust me, you _don't_ wanna know..." Roxy stated firmly, making clear the subject was not up for discussion.

For some time the two Autobots made their way further into the park, leaving the country roads for the dirt roads, heading deeper and deeper into the forest...

"Look!-" Veebee shone her headlight straight ahead, "The car!" Roxy snarled as the femme came to a halt, allowing her to climb out while she transformed, Darren followed suit, allowing his guardian to transform too. As they approached the vehicle it was clear it had been abandoned: no one was inside, and the front half was partially obscured by the thick undergrowth; the tire tracks on the soft ground indicated he's braked suddenly, and a set of footprints leading away from the driver's-side door indicated he'd taken off up a smaller, partially overgrown dirt road.

"Why did he just abandon it?" Darren thought aloud

"Who cares? Let's get after him!" Roxy took off up the dirt road, but Trailbreaker was quick to stop her: "-No he's right, why he didn't he just carry on driving? And why with a hostage? Even if Violet is lighter compared to him she's _still_ going to weigh him down: even_ he _should be smart enough to know it would give us time to catch up to him"

"...Fine" Roxy huffed in annoyance, "What'd _you_ recommend we do?"

"We go after him, but we stay sharp and be smart about it" Darren stated as he activated his CTG's bio-scanner; "You guys cover us okay?" he gazed up at the bots: "Always" Trailbreaker replied as he fired up his guns. "...Okay, let's go" Darren gestured for them to follow him as he took point.

Fifteen minutes of wary scouting soon brought them to a clearing in the dense forest, where a couple of large hunters cabins stood amid a make-shift junk yard: comprised of several large piles of scrap metal, logs and planking, several old rusted and half-dismantled pick-up trucks and cars that had been left to the mercy of the elements, and other large odds and ends that had been tossed aside and forgotten. The cabins looked like they had been there quite a long time: overgrown with vines and covered with moss and ferns, they were old, but the lights in the windows clearly indicated someone was home...

"...Anyone home?" Darren whispered

Scanning the cabins up and down, Trailbreaker shook his head: "Not that I can detect: there _are_ fresh human bio-signatures in and around the dwellings so he must've stopped off here before taking off again. But whether Violet's with him or not I can't say"

"So she's either with him or she's in one of those cabins" Roxy huffed, "We can't take the chance if she's in there,"

"And if she's not?" Veebee pointed out

Darren pondered the conundrum for a moment, before reaching into his back pockets and pulling out his auxiliary hand's free phone headset, a miniature comm communicator and a taser-gun: "I always carry these in case of an emergency..." he said as he connected the headset to the communicator and switched it on; "Put this in your back pocket and keep this with you at all times..." he handed her the taser-gun and slipped the communicator into her back pocket.

"What've you got in mind?" Roxy asked

"We'll split up and search the cabins, I'll take the one nearest to us, you take the one over there; we'll stay in touch-" he said as he put on his own headset and activated the weapons systems on his CTG. "You guys hang back and keep your scanners sharp, if you detect anything _even remotely_ human coming our way, signal us, or try and distract them until we can get out" he turned to Trailbreaker, "Understood, just be careful okay?" his guardian nodded as he and Veebee stepped back among the trees. Darren then looked Roxy square in the eye, "Now listen to me carefully: neither of us knows what might be in there so when I say be careful, _I mean_ be careful. Don't go taking unnecessary risks, and for God's sake Roxy, if you hear someone, hide or get outta there right away, understand?" he stated firmly.

As Roxy studied Darren, she realized he was more than just being dead serious, she could tell he was nervous, but at the same time he was carrying himself with a level of confidence, as if he'd been in this kind of situation before; it was then she realized maybe he wasn't the wimpy geek she'd always thought he was. He had matured and grown up, and something told her to go with her instincts on this. "...Okay" she replied quietly and honestly, taking the taser and switching it on.

"Okay" he nodded, "If you find Violet, tell me and we'll bail outta here: and vice versa if I find her first okay?"

"Okay..." she nodded as she adjusted the headset for a more comfortable fit, and cautiously crept over to the furthest cabin, while Darren made his way to the other.

**: Not to sound insulting or anything, but does he know what he's doing? :** Veebee asked

**: He's been in tighter situations than this; trust me, he's got this covered: **Trailbreaker stated

* * *

At the same time elsewhere:

"Ugh! We are lost!-" Chelsea huffed as she trudged along behind a lethargic Allie, "It's too damn dark and we don't have a map, how the hell are we supposed to find a road now?"

"I don't know" Jeanie sighed in frustration, "But stating the obvious isn't going to help"

"...Sorry" Chelsea sighed, "It's just we've been walking up this hill for nearly an hour and haven't gotten anywhere"

"Maybe we should take another pit stop?" Rosy suggested, "Agreed" they all replied.

"...Hey, what's that? ..." Allie pointed to a series of red and blue flashing lights through the trees; stepping out into a clearing, the girls had a birds-eye view of the whole valley. Down below some distance away, in a huge clearing amid the trees: several police cruisers and other law enforcement vehicles were parked up by a series of, what looked like large tents and gazebos; with a large section of ground that had been dug up into several broad neat trenches, which had several people all dressed head to toe in overalls moving around doing various tasks.

"What the heck's going on down there?" Rosy cocked her head to one side.

"Oh my God!-" Jeanie gasped, "Don't you guys recognize this place from the news? That's the mass grave! The one that serial killer had been dumping his victims in!"

"Shit," Chelsea gasped in amazement," As if this place couldn't get any creepier, now we have to worry about that psycho stalking around in these woods"

"Let's just pick up the pace and try and find a road" Jeanie stated

"You mean like that one?" Rosy pointed to a small overgrown dirt road some fifty yards away.

"Yes! Good one Rosy!" Jeanie smiled. As they jogged along on up to it, Jeanie suddenly spotted a trail of tiny blue glowing droplets spotted along the road. "What the hell's that stuff?" Chelsea pointed to it; As Jeanie bent down for a closer look, the distinctive strong whiff of static electricity and ozone suddenly hit her nose: "...It's energon" she replied.

"Energon? All the way out here?" Allie raised an eyebrow.

"Look-" Jeanie shone her torch on the soft earth, "Tire tracks: they look pretty fresh too"

"Its looks like Trailbreaker's and Veebee's" Chelsea said offhand as she too bent down for a closer look.

"How can you tell?" Rosy asked in bemusement

"Eh, I've stolen enough cars to know particular treads when I see them..." Chelsea replied casually, "But look, there's a third set of treads here too: either they were _following_ someone, or someone was following _them_"

"But which way did they go?" Rosy thought aloud. Standing up and looking around, something caught Jeanie's attention through the gloom and thick forest: "...Up there, look, just through the trees up on that ridge..." she pointed

"Is that a light?" Allie squinted

"It looks like a cabin" Chelsea added as she focused her eyes on the faint tiny light: "If that's a window, that's at least a mile away"

"Then we better not waste time standing around, come on" Jeanie lead the way, with her sister's and cousin staying close behind.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Tranquility:

**: What do you mean they just took off? :** Ironhide demanded

**: They **_**didn't**_** take off, they **_**just disappeared!**_** As if they hadn't been there in the first place! : **Sunstreaker explained for the umpteenth time.

**: Anyway-:** Sideswipe interrupted, **: How'd things go on your end?: **

**: It was the weirdest thing, no sooner had those cons attacked us they took off, as if something spooked them : **Bumblebee replied, **: Last we saw of them, they were heading east out of the city: **

**: Hey, didn't Bluebird say the kids were heading east on that train they accidently put them on? : **Jazz pointed out

**: And didn't Darren report that he, Trailbreaker Roxy and Veebee were tailing that kidnapper out towards the Tranquility National Park? : **Ultra Magnas added

Sensing that something was up, Prime frowned in a mix of suspicion and concern.

**: What are you r orders Optimus? : **Ironhide asked

**: We head out for the National Park:** Prime stated as he took off

"Gut instinct?" Lennox asked

**: Prime's instinct:** Optimus replied,:** Whatever's about to happen, it will happen there: **

* * *

Meanwhile:

**: Anything? :** Roxy whispered anxiously

**: Nothing, I checked upstairs and downstairs and Violet's not here: **Darren whispered back

**: There's only one place we haven't checked out: **

**: ...The basements:** Darren sighed reluctantly. **: Okay, but be on your guard:**

**: Only if you get off my back and let me do this:** Roxy huffed.

As he approached the ajar door leading down to the basement, Darren was more cautious than ever as his ears strained to scan every little sound he could possibly hear. After a moment or two just standing there and listening, nothing could be heard that indicated danger: satisfied it was safe to proceed, he carefully crept down the old creaking wooden stairs, and into the gloom. As he turned on the lights, a foul odour hit his nose which made his face scrunch up with disgust, 'what the hell?' he thought, and as he scanned the room, he soon figured out the reason for the smell.

'...A taxidermy workshop?' he realized as he looked around the grim workshop, and scanned his eyes over the various tools and items one would need for the macabre practice; one side of the room had nothing but shelves lined with various stuffed birds, mammals and reptiles, while various magazines, take-out food packaging and Styrofoam coffee cups littered one table top: and in the far corner, a small meagre bunk bed stood out amongst the clutter with a simple blanket and pillow sitting on top. Whoever worked here must be really dedicated to their hobby, as the well worn condition of the tools and worktop clearly indicated; whoever the taxidermist was, they'd been doing this for a good number of years.

As he stepped around the huge worktop, Darren noticed a curtain on the back wall that was hidden behind two huge bookcases and cupboards: wandering over and pulling the dull fabric back a little, he saw a small door. Sucking in his gut and squeezing in between the bookcases, he opened the door which led into small dank passageway that was carved out of rock: this passage had obviously been added on and was not part of the basements original blueprints. A small light at the end of the tunnel got the better of his curiosity, and after carefully treading along the narrow passage (being careful not to bump his head on any unseen rocks) he soon came into a large room, which had also been carved out as an underground extension.

But when he looked around the room, Darren realized he might have bitten off more than he could chew...

There was only a simple chair and desk in one corner: but the walls and ceiling were covered in hundred of photographs; photographs that were mostly depicting a family out hunting, and doing various other activities. As he studied the pictures, Darren wasn't quite sure what he was looking at, at first. Some of the pictures were so old and grainy that it was hard to make out the faces of the people in them let alone much else: but when he took a closer look at the game they were posing with, he nearly staggered back in shock...

Bodies. Human female bodies: decapitated, gutted and strung upside down to be bled like deer carcases. Every picture in one form or another showed the same men and boys, all posing with various corpses strung up or laid out on a worktop to be butchered: a worktop that looked just like the one he'd just seen in the workshop. As he scanned the photos in horror, the arrangement of the pictures seemed to depict a chronological order, as he noticed the same men and boys growing older the further along the walls he went: until near the tunnel, he saw only one male was present in every photo, and they looked to be the more recent ones.

"Oh my god..." Darren breathed, "It's _him..._" but then he realized something, "...But-, what the fuck did he do with their heads? ..."

In the other cabin across the way, Roxy was already down in the basement, and already her gut was telling this was a very bad place: littered on a long desk on one side of the room were various driver's licenses and ID's, each with the same man's photo, but with a different name and address on each card, and pinned to the wall, were what looked like surveillance photos, each depicting a different girl or young woman, oblivious to the camera; and then Roxy spotted a bombshell...

Pinned in a neat line were photos of her and her sisters and cousins: Violet's photo had a big red circle encircled around her face with the words 'sweetbreads and buttocks for roasting' written underneath.

Roxy stared at the photos in horror, realizing what those words meant, her disgust fear and anger all came boiling up at once, and her mind couldn't decided which to act on the most; she nearly all but flipped out as she tried to hold it together. "...I'll kill him..._I'll fucking kill the son of a bitch_..." she uttered in a shaky voice.

Then, she noticed a small door in the far side wall...

* * *

Meanwhile, at the exact same time elsewhere:

"How far now?" Allie asked

"Can't be _that _far now" Jeanie replied

As the full moon peeked out from behind a cloud and lit up the night sky, the dappled silver light fell through the trees and lit up the forest floor in a mix of pale blue light and inky black shadows. Looking around the eerie yet beautiful scene, a tiny glint of light coming from the forest floor caught Rosy's attention, stopping to get a better look, she smiled in excitement: "Hey guys! I found a diamond!"

"What?"

"A Diamond! There in the leaves!" she pointed to it: kneeling down for a closer look, sure enough, the girls all saw a small yet sizable diamond twinkling amid the leaf litter.

"Sweet! That'll put a few Benjamin's in your pocket-" Chelsea smiled, "Here, let me get it for you-" but as Chelsea tried to pick it up, the gem didn't budge: "Huh? It's stuck on something"

"Come on we don't have time for this" Jeanie stated

"Let me just get this-" Rosy replied as she bent down to try and help Chelsea, "-You don't leave a diamond like _that_ laying around in the woods" she added as she pulled on Chelsea's hoodie, trying to help as she tugged and tried to pry the diamond from out of the ground; Allie joined in too, and together the three of them tugged and heaved on the gem. Jeanie rolled her eyes as she kept her torch on them and the diamond, and before long, the gem started to dislodge from whatever it was attached to.

"We nearly got it!" Rosy smiled, "Just, one more pull, and-"

As the diamond popped out, something came out the ground with it: and as the girls fell backwards they gasped in horror, unable to look away...

The diamond was part of a ring, a ring attached to the bony finger of a headless putrefying female corpse.

They screamed at the top of their lungs, and scrambled to their feet before taking off up the dirt road as if the devil were on their heels: completely forgetting about the diamond...

* * *

Back up at the cabins:

"Did you hear _that?!_" Veebee shuddered in fear

"Sounded like screaming-" Trailbreaker scanned the forest in the direction the sound had come from, but nothing showed up.

"Look!-" Veebee pointed to the furthest cabin; a shadowy figure was approaching the main entrance, weaving in between the piles of junk.

"_Slag!-_" Trailbreaker cursed under his breath

"Comm the kids! Tell them to get out _right now!_" she panicked

"I'm _trying _but the signal's not getting through!" Trailbreaker hissed back

"Oh slaggit!" Veebee grimaced in fear.

In the furthest cabin, down in the basement: Roxy opened the door. And clasped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

The room was one huge long dining room, neatly decorated and adorned in the old Victorian style, as if ready for a banquette. But seated around the huge mahogany dining table, were the mummified remains of two old women, three elderly men, two younger women, four adolescent boys, and four younger children. All dressed in their Sunday best, and arranged as if they were frozen in the middle of a conversation. But on the walls all around, was a whole collection of women's and girl's heads stuffed and mounted like hunting trophies.

**: Roxy! Roxy are you there? Listen we have to get out! The guy who lives here, it's him, it's the Tranquility Stalker! Roxy do you copy me, over!? :** Darren's voice broke through the static on the comm, **: ROXY?! ROXY ANSWER ME! :**

At that moment, the sound of the back door opening up made Roxy jump out of her skin and turn to face the basement stairway: her heart raced a thousand beats a second as her mind began to panic.

"Dammit! Got no choice!-" Trailbreaker cursed as he aimed his weapon, and discharged a round at one of the log piles, the wood exploded in a hail of splinters, and the figure at the door bolted back the way he came: disappearing into the darkness of the undergrowth.

**: Listen you two! Get outta there right now! : **Trailbreaker shouted down the comm, but at that moment both Darren and Roxy came running out of the cabins and back towards them.

BLAM!

A thunderous gunshot rang out across the open space and disintegrated part of the tree trunk Trailbreaker was standing behind, "A slug shot!-" Darren called out, "-HIDE!" he shouted, Roxy changed course and dashed trough the junk pile into the undergrowth. All Darren could do was follow her as close as he could as they both ran blindly into the darkness; within seconds the ground gave out from under their feet as they fell down a steep slope: tumbling and rolling like rag dolls, trying desperately to reach out and grab something that would stop their fall.

"DARRAN!" Trailbreaker called after him, but three more shot kept the bots pinned where they were before the shooter took off in the direction of where the two cousins fell.

"-Come on! We have to get to them!" the black bot grunted as he took off, but nearly fell over the edge of the ridge himself; as Veebee came running up, he spotted Darren and Roxy through the trees, they had tumbled quite a distance, but it didn't look like they were too badly injured; but two hundred yards off to the right, the shadowy figure way already climbing down the ridge.

"SLAG! We have to get down there before he does!" Trailbreaker growled. Looking around at the forest, the trees on the slope were densely packed together: their trunks were thick and their roots were firmly latched into the steep ground, he couldn't risk blasting his way through, there was a risk a falling tree could hit the kids, and the possibility of a landslide was probable hazard too.

"How do we get down?" Veebee anxiously asked

"The old, _old _fashioned way, come on!" Trailbreaker replied as he started climbing down through the trees. Looking back to his right, his worry shot up when he saw stranger was gone.

Further down the forest, Jeanie Allie, Chelsea and Rosy all finally stopped running, as exhaustion forced them to halt and catch their breaths.

"Holy...shit..." Chelsea panted, "Please, tell me, that wasn't, what I think it was; was it?"

"It was, and I hope that-" Jeanie suddenly paused

"What's wrong now?!" Allie panicked

Two familiar voices came tumbling down towards them from out of the thick undergrowth, before two human forms landed on the girls and together the six of them tumbled down the slope for another fifty yards or so, before landing in the middle of another dirt road. Picking themselves up out of the dirt, they all frowned in confusion.

"Darren? Roxy? " Jeanie suddenly recognized them.

Realizing she had landed on another live body, Rosy was about to freak out when a fist came up and punched her hard on the shoulder: "Get off me!" a familiar ungracious voice grumbled.

"Max?!" Chelsea frowned in alarm, "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I might ask all of you the same thing!" Lizzy grumbled as she picked herself up from out of a pile of leaves.

"Lizzy?! What-" Darren threw his hands up in the air, "-Okay, _what the hell_ are you all doing here?!" he demanded angrily.

"I came back to look for Violet: we were looking for you when Firefly picked up Veebee's energon trail, we followed it up here and since the trees are too thick for Firefly to move through I went and scouted on ahead: then I heard _you losers_ screaming, right before you knocked me on my ass!" the teenager huffed

"And you? What's your story?" Darren demanded, turning his attention to Max. "I was trying to find the highway, but with the cops everywhere I had to take the long way round on one of the dirt roads; I spotted the twip and followed her, right before you all landed on top of me!" Max growled, "And now if you'll excuse me, I'm blowing this shin-dig-" she turned to leave.

"No wait! You can't-" Roxy stopped her; everyone did a double take, Max was equally surprised as the elder Ainsley sister grabbed her shoulder and jerked her back: "-The Tranquility Stalker! We just ran outta his house!"

"WHAT?!" everyone gawked

"We just fell down from up there! He's got a gun and he just tried to drill a few slugs into our heads!" Darren frantically explained as his head continued to spin: still not quite believing what he had just discovered, "-I saw his secret room! It's filled with photos of dead women! _Women he and his whole fucking family killed for sport!_"

"It's true! I found this room where he'd kept the heads and mounted them on his wall! The _sick twisted fuck_ had been stalking _us_ too! He wanted to kill us and cook us up like a fucking Sunday roast!" Roxy panicked, as she was now on the verge of hysteria.

"What?!" Allie and Rosy panicked, now also hysterical.

"Bullshit!" Lizzy scoffed, not believing a word they just said

"You seriously expect me to believe that shit?!" Max demanded angrily

"_We_ _just found a dead body back up there along the road!_" Jeanie angrily spat back, "I think, I'm pretty inclined to believe them!"

"It's true!" Chelsea blocked Max's path, "Listen! We have to get outta here right now!"

Max pushed Chelsea aside and barged her way past, but Chelsea wouldn't have any of it, and tried to stop her as she marched off: "-You can be pissed off with me all you like! But I'll be _damned_ if I let you go out into those woods with that sick fuck out there! _You're my sister!_ And I even if you don't care, _I care about you!_" she grunted, but with one hard right hook, Max knocked her onto her knees, grabbed her hoodie and held her up to her face: "LISTEN TO ME YOU UNGREATFUL LITTLE SHIT! I _stole_ for you! I risked going back to juvi for you! All so I could make enough money to ensure we had a chance at a better life together: and what do you do? _You throw it back in my fucking face!_" Max shouted in raw anger as she punched her again"-You can go fuck Jack the Ripper for all I care! I'm done with this fucking excuse for a family! _AND I'M FUCKING DONE WITH YOU! ..._"

BLAM!

Time almost stopped, frozen in the greatest moment of shock any of them had ever experienced...

As she looked down, Max saw the gaping wound in her side, before the pain hit her like a truck doing eighty down the freeway: Chelsea knelt there, frozen with terror as the blood spatter ran down her face.

As the cousins/sisters stood there frozen in horror, a figure dressed head to toe in black jumped out of the bushes and took aim: snapping out of his stupor, Darren reacted without thinking, and grabbing a branch, hit the attacker as if he was hitting a home run. The man fell over backwards, and the girls too snapped back to reality and went on the attack. Darren rushed to Max's side as she dropped to the ground: she was already going into shock as the blood slowly seeped from the wound; "Max? ..." Chelsea stared at her, also in shock as she tried to hold her sister close to her.

Roxy went completely postal as she came at the stranger with everything she had: Jeanie too was putting up a good fight while Allie, Rosy and Lizzy tried to hit him with fallen branches and anything else they could find. Darren threw his hoodie and T-shirt off, ripped up the garments into strips and started binding Max's wound tightly in an attempt to stop the bleeding. But just when he finished tying up the last blood-soaked strip, the stranger surprised the girls as he grabbed his rifle, swung it round over his head, and hit Lizzy and Roxy over the head, knocking them unconscious: in the same swing he brought his fist up and also hit Rosy and Allie hard, knocking them out cold too.

Falling over backwards from dodging the rifle butt, Jeanie tried to get back up as fast as she could, only to see the stranger standing with a crossbow in one hand and a knife in the over; before she even had time to duck out of the way, Jeanie screamed in pain as an was arrow shot into her shoulder and buried itself in her flesh. In a blind rage, Chelsea screamed as she charged at the stranger, hoping to bring hell down on him: but she too was quickly taken out of the fight when he plunged the knife deep into her side, and then slowly made his way over to Max and Darren.

"NO!-" Darren cried out as he lay Max down and readied himself to fight; up the slope he could hear Trailbreaker and Veebee crashing down towards them, calling for him through the trees and through the comm frequency on his headset. The odds weren't in his favour, he already knew that, but if he could hold this creep off long enough for his guardian to get within firing range, the fight would be over in an instant.

"COME ON!-" he baited him angrily, "What? You can't stand up to a bunch of _girls?_ You gotta use a gun to win a fight?!" he charged him, "-FUCK YOU, YOU SICK FUCK!-"

Darren managed to land a punch to the jaw before the stranger fired his crossbow on reflex, landing an arrow in the side of his left knee. Darren cried out in pain as he fell, but his adrenaline was too high to let him stop: he grabbed the stranger by his coat tails and jerked hard, pulling him back onto the ground; grabbing the discarded gun, Darren swung it round and hit him over the head. The stranger fell forward and seemed to be dazed from the impact; taking the opportunity, Darren saw a large stone amid the leaf litter: grabbed and pried it out of the ground, staggered to his feet as blood trickled down his prosthetic leg, the pain was unbearable but we forced him to stand regardless.

He held the stone over his head, and was about to bring it down with all his might, when suddenly a flash of sliver out the corner of his eye forced him to jump back instinctively as the stranger tried to swipe his blade at him, missing his right calf by an inch. The stone dropped as the stranger jumped back up on his feet, and charged the downed teen: he would've stabbed him right in the chest if Roxy hadn't blindsided him and hit him upside the head with a broken branch; but he didn't go down. She was about the hit him over the head again when the stranger blocked her swing and slashed her across the shoulder with his knife. She screamed as she staggered back, the wound was bleeding badly, and coming at her again, he stabbed her hard, and this time he left the knife in her shoulder. He kicked her unconscious, and charged Darren, knocking him down and kicking him with such force that he coughed up blood.

He was beaten. He was bleeding, in pain and he was beaten; Allie, Lizzy and Rosy were still out cold, Jeanie was lying several feet away, in pain and bleeding as she clutched the arrow embedded in her shoulder; Chelsea was barely conscious as she lay bleeding from the wound in her side, and Roxy was breathing hard, biting back the urge to scream while blood continued to ooze from her shoulder. Darren looked down at the arrow in his knee, and realized it wasn't directly lodged into the joint itself, it had flown in at an angle and had just embedded into the flesh above the support straps for his prosthesis, it hadn't gone in deep enough to damage any muscle, ligament or bone.

The stranger grabbed Max by her throat, and dragged her away as she coughed and gasped for breath: Darren swallowed his pain hard, pushing exhaustion away, and with one last push he jumped to his feet, and with a roaring battle cry he tackled the stranger to the ground, forcing him to drop Max; Chelsea struggled to try and attack, as did Roxy, but their injuries were too debilitating, and bleeding too much to allow them the necessary strength to carry on. The stranger punched Darren off him, retrieved Max, and dragged her off into the undergrowth, where the sound of a truck engine could be heard starting up, before a door slammed shut, and a pair or bright red tail lights disappeared up into the darkness, travelling at a fair speed.

"NOOO!" Chelsea screamed, "He's got my sister!" she wailed at the top of her lungs

"We-, have to go after him!" Jeanie panted as she forced herself to sit upright.

"_Kill-, that fucking psychopath!_" Roxy growled in raw ire as she staggered back up onto her feet: all the fury of hell burning in her eyes as she weakly helped Darren up with her one good arm. Darren broke the wooden arrow shaft and gently slid both ends out from both sides of his wound, the agony was unlike anything he felt before, but he bit back the urge to cry out in pain: his guess as to the severity of his wound seemed to be on the mark, as not much blood came out. "He won't get far" he stated in a shuddering voice, "I-I slipped my cell into his pocket when I tackled him-" he gazed down at his CTG's tracker, "He w-won't get far,"

Having heard the whole fight via the comm communicator, Trailbreaker was all but completely livid as he crashed his way through the trees, trying to get to his injured charge as fast as he could while Veebee was trying to catch up as best she could. "DARREN!" he cried out, and as Darren snapped his head up, he could see his face said everything, "TRAILBREAKER!" he called back desperately.

As the two bots got within fifty yards, Trailbreaker took one last jump; but as his feet left the ground something black and white jumped out of the dense undergrowth and tackled him hard, sending him flying and knocking Veebee down head over aft: who then went tumbling down the rest of the slope uncontrollably.

"NO!" Darren cried out as he watched helplessly. Trailbreaker grabbed the thing by the arm, only to get punched in the face: as he tried to straighten up and wriggle out of the thing's grasp: its two glowing red optics and sharp triangular face got up close to him, and he recognized who it was right off the bat. "Barricade!-" He grunted as he landed a punch to the con's side: Barricade took off with the bot hot on his heels, leading him further into the forest before he fired up his guns, but didn't get a chance to use them as Trailbreaker shot first, cracking the armour on his forearms and taking the weapons out of commission.

"Where are they?!" the con snarled as he hit the bot in rapid succession; Trailbreaker counter-attacked with a hard left hook, forcing the con backwards. "You can't have them!-" Trailbreaker grunted angrily, "Their not worth anything to you anyway!". "Don't play dumb with _me _Autobot!-" Barricade hit him again, this time tackling him to the ground, and aiming a previously concealed gun right in his face; "You know who I'm talking about! _Now tell me!_ Where are they and what have you done with them!"

"The kids are back up the slope you idiot!" Trailbreaker grunted, "That's the whole reason you've been stalking them isn't it?" he stated sarcastically.

But much to his surprise, Barricade merely blinked in confusion: "_What?_ I'm not talking about the meat-sacks! I'm talking about _the others!_"

Trailbreaker paused, and stared up the con in equal confusion.

Suddenly, several lazar-blasts cut through the trees and hit Barricade on the back of his shoulders and arms; the black and white con jumped up and took off into the darkness, running at break-neck speed down and away into the dense undergrowth. Looking up to see who'd fired the shots, the black bot breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Jazz running up to him.

"Primus! Are you ever a hard mech to find out here!" the silver Pontiac sighed with relief as he helped him back up onto his feet, "What the frag are you doin' all the way up here?!"

"The kids-" Trailbreaker pointed back up the slope, "Their back up there! Their hurt and need medical attention!" he panicked

"Whoa whoa! Slow down dude! What the slag's been going on?!"

"The Tranquility Stalker! Darren and Roxy just escaped from his home but he came after them; he tracked them down the slope where they met up with Jeanie, Allie, Rosy, Lizzy, Chelsea and Max and he attacked them all. He took Max and left the rest of them for dead! We have to get back up there right _now!_" Trailbreaker frantically explained

"Okay Okay! Listen, we'll-"

**: Uh Guys? A little help here please! I'm kinda stuck! :** Veebee commed

"...Okay, I'll take care of her, you go back for the kids" Jazz stated**,: Prime! This is Jazz, try and lock onto Trailbreaker's signal and have the human medics up there ASAP! We got us a real gnarly party up here! : **The first lieutenant commed, but only fuzzy static came back, "Dammit! What the slag's interfering' with the comms?!" he huffed.

"Don't know, try and sort it out!" Trailbreaker called back hastily as he took off and started climbing back up the way he'd came.

* * *

At the same time, not too far away:

**: Good call on Veebee's part, discharging a bit of her energon at the guy's rear bumper:** Tangostar said offhand as her scanners tracked her sister's energon residue along the dirt road.

**: Veebee may not be a naturally-sparked tactician, but she has her moments:** Bluebird replied as she followed close behind

**: I **_**still**_** can't reach any of the others on the comms, ours are fine but everyone else is just static:** Tangostar worried,** : You don't suppose something's happened do you? : **

**: If it has, at least we're in a position to provide back-up, **_**just **_**as soon as I can figure where it is we're actually going...: **Bluebird replied

**: **_**At the very least**_** we gotta try and reach Trailbreaker and Veebee, if they managed to catch up to that guy, Primus only knows what could go down:** Tangostar pointed out.

As the two sister rounded a tight corner, they screech to a halt as their scanners picked up four large Decepticons stalking along the dirt road about four hundred yards ahead. **: SLAGGIT! Back-up!, back-up! :** Bluebird hissed in a panic: the two of them back up quickly, transformed and ran into the forest, running down the incline until they came to small hollow between the trees. Jumping in, they ducked down as the low as they could go, as the cons came jogging up to the corner of the road and scanned the area. They didn't spot the sisters, but they were still too close for comfort.

**: Dammit! They know something was just in front of them!- :** Bluebird realized, **: Their gonna try and flush us out! : **

**: We gotta run and hide, it's the only option we have!"** Tangostar replied

**: Agreed, come on, we'll try and find another way round...:** Bluebird stayed low as she crept along the hollow, following it as it cut through the forest floor, with her sister keeping a wary optic over her shoulder...

But they hadn't noticed the fifth Decepticon, who had spotted them from just over the rise of the hollow, and was silently stalking them as they as they both disappeared into forest.

* * *

Meanwhile:

After finally managing to clear a path through the thick undergrowth, Firefly had caught up to Lizzy's position via her cell phone signal, but when she found the youngster and her sisters and cousins: the scene that greeted her _wasn't_ what had expected to find.

"HOLY SLAG! What happened?!" she gawked in horror

"The Tranquility Stalker took Max" A visibly shaken Lizzy replied anxiously as she helped Rosy and Allie tend to their sister's/cousins injuries.

"The fucking psycho attacked us!" Roxy grunted as Darren tore up more of his T-shirt and bound her wound, before tearing up his hoodie and making it into a snug make-shift sling, "-Didn't even know he was _right there_ until he shot Max!-" she clenched her teeth as she bit back the pain.

"We only survived cuz he couldn't be asked to hang around and make sure he finished the job ..." Darren frowned, the wound in his knee continued to throb as he bound it with his hoodie sleeve: "The arrow and knife in your shoulders are just stuck in the meat, it doesn't look like they hit anything vital" he told Jeanie and Roxy, "But even so, _don't pull them out_ whatever you do, just keep the slings on..." he then turned to Chelsea, who was standing up and leaning against a tree while a tearful Allie was fighting back her fear of blood to bandage her wound with part of her torn up denim jacket; "Ask a stupid question, but how are you?" Darren asked

"Fucking fine and dandy..." she ground out sarcastically, "You?"

"The arrow just took some flesh off, I'm okay..." he looked down at her wound, and the position of where it was in the side of her torso, "Your damn lucky the knife didn't hit anything vital, if it had you'd be dead by now"

"Thanks Mr fucking obvious..." she smiled, "So what's the game plan now?"

"I'm going after the son of a bitch, you're all gonna wait here 'till Trailbreaker get's back" Darren stated

"WHAT?! BULLSHIT!" Chelsea spat angrily

"You're gonna need someone to cover your ass! He took on all of us _by himself!_ How'd you think your chances fair against him if you're on your own?!" Roxy pointed out.

"-God Dammit Roxy this isn't up for debate! We already lost Violet and Max, _I won't lose anymore of you!_-" he angrily spat back as he trembled with fear, "I-... I can't let you risk your lives, not any more than you already have!" he blurted out as he tried to hold it together

The girls all paused, seeing the fear and anger in his eyes, they knew he was right

"Well what'd you expect?" Jeanie stated, "We're family, this is the kinda shit families are willing to go through for each other"

"Yeah, and besides, after the way you tried to beat the crap outta that freak, how the hell can we _not _back you up?" Lizzy added,

"Considering you tried to save us, I'd say we're pretty much obliged to return the favour. But more importantly..." Roxy sighed, "That fuck-head stabbed me with a knife, when I get my hands on him, _I'm gonna go to fucking town on his ass!_" she growled in ire.

Looking around, Darren knew they had already made their minds up: "...I guess my chances of talking you all outta this are zip?" he asked

"What do _you _think?" Chelsea replied sarcastically

"...Okay..." he sighed in defeat, "I don't know _how the hell_ we're gonna do this, but we're gonna do it" he checked the tracker on his CTG, "...The guy's stopped three and half miles up that way," he pointed up the dirt road, "Firefly, we're gonna need a ride..."

"Okay" the young femme nodded, and transformed back into her altmode. Being careful not to jostle about too much, the sisters/cousins all carefully squeezed into the femme; she shut her doors, and took off, following the road back up the steep slope.

"Just so we're clear, if we die and come back as ghosts or whatever, _I'm kicking your asses all the way through eternity! _Understand?" Darren huffed sarcastically.

* * *

**Intense much? Man, I am beat! And it's only gonna get worse in the next chapter; just giving you fair warning now. I _can_ say however, that the story is officially on the downhill run, not a whole lot of chapters left to go now :)**

**Please let me know what you think and stay tuned, it's gonna be a killer (literally) *nudge nudge, wink wink ;)***


	12. Chpt 11: Secrets in the Forest

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

**WARNING: Scenes of torture & violence right from the start, plus gore, blood, and attempted rape; this one's the gnarliest by far (but fortunately, it is the last)**

* * *

LEMONS & CHERRIES

Chapter 11: Secrets in the Forest

Somewhere in the Tranquility National Park, night-time:

The smell of blood was the first thing that greeted her, before the pain reminded her of her current dire predicament.

As she lifted her head, Max forced her eyes to open; she realized she was strapped to a wooden chair with handcuffs and plastic zip ties: looking down, she saw part of her gun-shot wound had been cauterized (most likely after she had passed out), the smell of burnt flesh suggested it had been done very recently. The wound itself was a bloody mess, the tissue had been damaged to such an extent that it was hard to tell (from her perspective at least) how deep it was and if anything vital had been hit; in any case, she wasn't bleeding now.

Looking up at her surroundings; instead of the forest and the darkness of night, she saw she was in a long windowless room that was covered floor to ceiling with dull white tiles, with three florescent strip lights illuminating the place, and two rows of butcher's hooks suspended from the ceiling. To her left, a large old wooden table sat in the corner, with a collection of various surgical tools, scalpels, knives, power tools, an electric cattle prod, and various other sharp and dangerous items all laid out neatly in several rows...

But when her eyes wandered over to the far end of the room, her morbid curiosity came to a screeching halt...

Suspended from the ceiling were three female human torsos, drained of their blood, gutted, and ready for further processing by the looks of it.

Max felt a cold chill run up her spine and her stomach turned to rot; she knew there and then what was coming: but regardless, she _wasn't _prepared to go out without a fight.

A large metal door opened behind her with a rusted creek and a clank, and in walked her attacker: dressed head to toe in black form-fitting clothing and a ski mask, he calmly and purposely stepped around her, as if inspecting her. Breathing in deep, Max shot him the most threatening glare she had to offer: the stranger cocked his head to one side, as if curious by her show of defiance. But Max couldn't guess at what he was thinking: his eyes were dead and emotionless, they could be a shark's or a corpse's eyes for all anyone could guess; not a hint or even an inkling of emotion or anything to suggest any form of humanity was there (and at the back of her mind, that scared her).

This did not bode well, and Max didn't have to wait long to find out she was right...

The stranger stepped over to the table and picked up the cattle prod: as he switched it on, small electrical sparks flashed between the contact tips, crackling and buzzing as he pointed it at her. "That supposed to scare me?" Max scoffed, the wound made it hard to talk: every breath brought a fresh wave of pain, but she pushed it aside and focused only on him.

The stranger didn't reply

"What? Not in the mood to fuck around?" She baited him, "Cuz I can-GHAA!-"

She jolted violently as the stranger rammed the cattle prod into her wound: the pain was unbearable as her muscles contracted with the burst of electricity, but she forced back the urge to cry out; instead, she glared daggers up at him, and bared her teeth as she growled: "Th-That all you got?-"

Dissatisfied, he rammed the prod into her three more times: and every time the pain shot up. But Max wouldn't let him have _any _satisfaction of seeing her in agony. As the news reports came to mind, she remembered one common feature all the victims shared was that they had been tortured before death; whatever it was he got out of them, she _wasn't _going to give him.

She panted hard and deep: trying to keep her mind focused on her breathing, it was all she could do to stop herself from screaming or going into shock; the stranger huffed sharply, obviously disappointed: he put the cattle prod back on the table, and reached for a hunting knife. He stood over Max as he used it to cut away her hoodie, T-shirt and bra, until her upper half was completely clotheless; he then swapped the knife for a long bullwhip: gripping it tightly in one hand, he brought it up, over and around his head, and brought it down hard across her chest and breasts with a sharp CRACK!

Max hissed sharply as the pain shot through her skin like fire and hornet stings; he lashed her several more times, but still she refused to give in or let out any cries; as the eighth lash came down over her shoulder: she glanced down, and saw the large bulge protruding from his pants. At that moment her resolve to defy this psychopath went from bluntly powering through, to anger-fueled rage.

"This is what you got outta murdering them?!-" She spat ferociously, "You jack off by watching them suffer you _sick demented fuck?!-_" Another lash made her hiss and jolt backwards, but she was too pissed off to back down, "_Well good luck with me! _I've taken far worse than this! You think a light-weight armature like you can beat the shit outta me?! _Go ahead! Do your fucking worse!_" she screamed.

At that, the stranger stopped and gazed at her angrily: Max smirked, _that _got his attention, and simultaneously took a stab at his ego. Despite his calm fluid movements, the stranger's hard shaky breathing suggested his patience was now being pushed to its limits: he threw the bullwhip back onto the table, and picked up a pair of brass knuckle-dusters that were lined with a row of spiked blades. Placing them on both hands, he purposely cracked his knuckles as he stepped in front of her.

'_Fuck!'_ Max cursed mentally: breathing deep, she readied herself; this was not going to be pretty,

Or painless...

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere:

"GHA!-" Trailbreaker grunted as a large branch swatted him across the face, landing him on his aft, "... This forest is _too slaggin' thick!_ We'll _never _catch up to them at this rate!" he vented as he staggered back up onto his feet.

"I'll _still _can't reach Prime, or any of the others" Jazz sighed as he climbed up the steep slope, using a particularly large pine tree to steady himself as he gave Veebee a hand up.

"What I don't get is, how'd you find us all the way out here?" she asked

"I tailed Barricade up here, followed him all the way to you guys after I spotted him slipping outta the train depot: the last time I checked, Prime and the rest of the team were forty five minutes behind me; but with the comm signal dropping in and out, I can't get a fix on what road their on, or how far away they are now"

"This doesn't make sense," Trailbreaker huffed as he took point, "There's no lightning storms forecast for tonight so there's no electrical discharge in the atmosphere, and topography's never been an issue: the comms don't link up via line of sight. So what the slag's going on?"

**: That's what I'm trying to determine right now:** Crystalwing interjected over the fuzzy comm

**: Crystalwing? You up there femme? :** Jazz perked up

**: I'm still here, and I have you on my scanners at last:** She sighed with relief, **: But the comms are still dropping in and out, it depends on where you are: right now you three are standing in the only clear spot I could find thus far :**

**: Have you managed to pin-point the source of the interference? : **Trailbreaker asked

**: From what I can make out, it appears that its being created by a low-frequency scrambling signal; very low EMP out-put, and the point of origin appears to be mobile as it keeps shifting position every several minutes :**

**: Can you get a lock on it? : **Veebee asked

**: At this point no, there's no recognizable pattern to its movements, but I will keep trying,: **Crystalwing assured them

**: What about the kids? Have you got a fix on them? :** Trailbreaker asked desperately

**: I had a lock on several human bio-signatures a few minutes ago, but their now over three miles away to the north-west, and from the Autobot signature I'm picking up I think Firefly's with them too:**

The three bots looked at one another in confusion, Lizzy and Firefly came back? But decided to leave the question of why for later,:** ...Okay, anything else we should know? :** Trailbreaker asked.

**: Prime and the others aren't far behind, and from the looks of the heat-signatures their- ...Oh no!: **

**: What?! What's wrong?! :** Trailbreaker began to panic

**: I just picked up five Decepticon signals heading towards the younglings current location! They're dropping in and out of my scanner's range but it's definitely them! :** Crystalwing replied anxiously

**: Tell me where they are! I **_**have**_** to intercept them before they reach the kids! :** Trailbreaker demanded

**: Trailbreaker that forest is far too dense you'll never reach them in time! Your best bet is to backtrack to the dirt road, follow it northwards until you come to a crossroads. From there, turn right and follow the road westwards: you should reach the proximity of the youngling's location. It's a four mile detour, but it's the quickest route there is: **Crystalwing explained as she sent them a data-burst of the network of dirt roads throughout the national park, and the route in question.

**: But what about the kids? :** Veebee pointed out

**: I'll send reinforcements down to cover them; in the meantime, I'll try and get through to Prime and relay what has happened:** Crystalwing replied, **: I'm sorry, but it's the best I can do under the circumstances :**

**: Don't worry, it's okay:** Trailbreaker sighed,:** Just-, whoever you send down, make sure their fast. If the Tranquility Stalker's already got them, the cons won't be the main concern: **

**: Copy that, Crystalwing out:**

"A four mile detour," Jazz sighed, "Let's see if we can set a new record"

Without another word, the three bots transformed and took off down the slope at breakneck speed, back the way they came, through the valley, and towards the dirt road the communications officer had highlighted for them.

At the same time, high up in orbit: Crystalwing prepared her subspace opening for ejection. Curled up in their protective space-faring modes, Shiningstar and Blackmoon waited as their mother prepared to dispatch them. Having kept track of what's going on via their telepathic bonds, the femme and her offspring were all too aware of how dire the situation was, and through the patchy comm signal, could sense Trailbreaker's worry and fear.

'_I'll try and aim as close to their current location as possible. Remember my sweet-sparks, don't stop for anything: once you have the younglings, protect them at all costs' _she told them over the bond.

'_Yes mother'_ they simultaneously replied

'_Now take care, and good luck'_ were her last words as she ejected them from her subspace like a pea-shooter; the two siblings shot through the atmosphere like flaming comets, as they headed for California.

* * *

Meanwhile, down below:

"UGH! Watch it!" Roxy growled as Allie accidentally elbowed her elder sister. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Allie quickly apologized.

"How much further?" Chelsea strained as the wound in her side continued to send waves of raw pain through her abdomen.

"Just around this bend, and then we should be-" But Darren words were cut off as Firefly rounded the bend, and screeched to a halt as she spotted five huge black Decepticons stalking down the steep slope some seven hundred yards in front.

"SHIT!-" Darren cursed, "Right! Everyone out! Firefly, transform the second we're behind you!" he ordered

"Gladly!" She obliged as she threw her doors open, allowing everyone to scramble out. Once her interior was empty, she transformed in record time, fired up her guns and aimed at the cons as they slowly stalked towards her like a pack of wolves.

"Holy crap! _Those_ are Decepticons?!" Jeanie panicked

"Yes, those _are_ Decepticons, and they're coming right for us!" Darren frowned

"Let' em try! I got this covered!" Firefly scoffed as she took aim: but the cons could sense she was much smaller and more vulnerable, and simply cackled mockingly as they surround her in a circle. As the sisters'/cousins huddled together between Firefly's legs, it suddenly became apparent the young femme was in way over her head, as the much larger (and obviously more experienced) cons took their time in sniffing her up and down. Toying around and having their fun before moving in for the kill.

"No _you don't_ have this covered! You're out-numbered five to one, their cannons have got way more firepower, and right now, we got no way outta this!" Darren retorted angrily.

"Oh have a little faith! I've gotten outta worse scrapes than this!" Firefly scoffed, to which Darren was about to argue back, when suddenly, high overhead the night sky lit up as a flaming ball of fire crashed down through the trees, and landed dead center on one of the cons, killing him instantly. The accompanying energy wave knocked everyone off their feet, and as the fire surrounding the strange object died down, it revealed itself to be a transformer's space-travel protoform, which uncurled to reveal Shiningstar. Overhead, Blackmoon swooped down through the trees and shot two fire balls at two of the other cons; prompting them to fire up their weapons and ready themselves for battle.

"Are you guys okay? Mother sent us down to keep an optic on you!" Shiningstar worried as she approached the humans.

"We're good: but listen, I need you to back up Firefly and keep these guys busy-" Darren pointed to the cons that were now trying (and failing) to shoot Blackmoon out of the trees. "We need to go on ahead to try and find Max and Violet"

"But-, my orders are to-"

"-I'll take it up with Prime when this is over, right now we don't have time to argue! The Tranquility Stalker's got them and they could be dying as we speak!" Darren angrily shot back.

Sensing what had happened through his fear and anger, Shiningstar didn't argue back. "Okay, we'll do what we can" she nodded, before turning her attention to Firefly, "You, cover me, I'm going to give Blackmoon a helping paw" she ordered as she jumped up and started running rings around the cons.

"Are you guys gonna be okay?" Firefly asked as she stood back up

"We'll be fine, just keep them off our tails" Darren ordered as he checked the tracker on his CTG

"How far?" Roxy asked

"Less than a quarter of a mile, that way" Darren pointed down the dirt road. Helping Chelsea, Roxy and Jeanie along, the Ainsley kids set off as quickly as their wounds would allow them, leaving the cons to the bots, as they disappeared into the blackness of the forest.

* * *

Meanwhile, not far away:

**: **_**Fraggit!**_** How did they pick us up?! : **Tangostar cursed as she picked up the four Decepticons on her long-range scanners, plus a fifth that had now joined the hunt.

**: That fifth one was right above us before he joined his buddies, he must've spotted us when we ran off the road:** Bluebird reasoned as she kept her weapons cycling, ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

The hollow they retreated into had led down into a deep gorge that widened out at the base, with a shallow river running through; it was hard to gauge the sound of the Decepticon's footsteps over the sound of the rushing water, as it echoed up the near-vertical cliff-like walls.

**: It's way too close in here to fight, we need to keep going and pray this opens out with a little more elbow room:** Tangostar stated

**: Agreed, let's go:** Bluebird nodded as she took point. The gorge zigzagged through the forest for some distance, rising and leveling out in places, leading them further upstream, until at last it opened out into an oblong pool that was surrounded by steep cliff-faces on both sides, and over-shadowed by a huge cluster of piled-up boulders with a wide waterfall that cascaded into the pool below. Looking the boulders up and down, the sisters could see right away it would make a perfect vantage point to snipe from. Looking at one another and nodding in agreement, they took off for the boulders: climbed up to the top of the waterfall, and took cover behind a particularly long boulder that jutted out from the pile, and an old fallen tree that lay across the river.

They didn't have to wait long before the cons exited the gorge, and tentatively stepped out into the shallow pool: their bright red optics scanned the water and cliff-faces, looking everywhere for the bots. The sisters squinted their optics as tightly as they could, trying not to let the blue glow of their optics give them away in the dark.

Using both their thermal-scanners and infer-red night-vision to line up their shots, the sisters were about to take out their first two targets, when suddenly, the cons optics turned bright yellow, and all five of them stopped where they were, and straightened up as if standing to attention.

**: ...Huh? What just happened? :** Tangostar frowned

**: Don't know...:** Bluebird frowned in equal confusion

The con's just stood there like statues, as if in a hypnotic stupor; their weapons powered down and folded away, and then suddenly, their heads all turned in the same direction. Following their gaze up the left-side cliff-face and towards the incline of the forest floor, the sisters stared in a mix of confusion and concern as their scanners picked up what the cons were looking at...

About a kilometer up the valley was a large aircraft of some kind, sitting in a clearing amid the dense trees and undergrowth: it was similar in shape and design to Jetfire's altmode, but much longer with a more robust fuselage, and camouflaged with what looked like the same stealth tech Deathshot possessed, for the outline of its thermal signature was the only indicator of its presence they could pick up on their scanners. Moving around the craft, were the thermal outlines of what looked to be a group of humans, but it was most peculiar, for it was only their outlines and nothing more they could detect.

**: Are those, human? Their certainly moving like humans:** Tangostar said offhand

**: Yeah, but whatever their wearing is shielding their internal structures, I can't pick up **_**anything **_**on them... :** Bluebird frowned as her scanners tried to penetrate whatever it was that was obscuring their internal anatomy, but to no avail.

From the way they seemed to be moving around, the humans seemed to be scanning the area for something; one of them held up a small hand-held device, which emitted a strange complex signal. At that moment, the cons started climbing up the cliff-face, and made their way up towards the invisible aircraft, where the humans seemed to greet them with no obvious fear. The cons continued to stand still while the humans seemed to sweep several scanner-like devices around them. All the while they made no eye-contact, made no attempt to speak, or do anything at all: they just stood there like zombies, completely oblivious to the human's presence. Finally, when the humans appeared to be done with whatever it was they were doing: the cons transformed into their altmode's, and entered the aircraft via a swing-down ramp at the rear, right under the craft's main thruster. The humans then quickly boarded the craft via a hatch in the side of the fuselage, after which the opening sealed shut and the engines fired up, only instead of standard human tech jet engines, they were _ion-engines_, the same silent type Deathshot and the other airborne 9 members had as part of their altmode's.

Silently, the craft hovered up and out of the clearing: not even rustling the leaves of the trees as it ascended out of the valley; and then it turned eastward, and shot off like a missile, disappearing in the blink of an optic.

Staring up at the sky in disbelief, the sisters powered down their weapons, and looked at one another. "...What just happened?!" Tangostar's face contorted into a mix of surprise and alarm

Unable to find an answer, Bluebird could only reply: "...I don't know"

As they sat they in the dark, the silence of the forest crept back into the range of their audio scanners: and with it, something that instantly caught their attention.

"Hey, you hear that?" Tangostar pointed out; straining her audios, Bluebird heard it too. "...Primus! Those are Firefly's guns!" she suddenly realized.

"That means we're not far now, come on!" Tangostar beckoned her to follow as she stood back up and took off up the valley, following the sound of gunfire and revving engines as it echoed out over the top of the neighboring valley.

"Listen, not that I've had time to fully read through the inventory of all of NEST's weapons and vehicles, but I'm pretty sure the humans aren't allowed to work cybertronian tech!" Bluebird threw in

"We'll talk to Prime about it later: right now, Primus only knows what Firefly's gotten herself into!" Tangostar replied as she charged through the forest.

* * *

Meanwhile:

The coldness of the tiles was the only form of relief she could get, as the stranger let Max slump to the floor in a bloody mess. Having been beaten to a within an inch of her life, Max panted hard as she tried to hold it all in.

Being beaten with bare fists in a fight is one thing: but when strapped to a chair and beaten with brass knuckle-dusters lined with spiked blades, it puts pain into a whole new category of torture: she lost track of time after the first several blows, and everything else went as it got worse and worse.

Max was now well and truly at the cusp of her limits, both mentally and physically: on the one hand her instincts screamed at her to hold on, to survive no matter what, but on the other, the pain was now far too much that her mind screamed at her to surrender, to just lie down and have it over and done with. She had practically no physical strength left, save enough for her diaphragm to keep her lungs pumping with air, as she desperately gasped for breath. The pain was so extreme that all her injuries now felt like one; all over and everywhere across her flesh: and as such she'd lost track of how many injuries she had sustained, and how severe they were.

And indeed, if someone without any form of medical background or first aid training were to see her now, they would think they were looking at the remains of an animal attack. From her head to her waist she was covered in so much blood that her injuries barely stood out: deep gashes and lacerations lined her chest, shoulders and breasts where he'd slashed at her flesh, a deep gash and an equally bad jagged cut criss-crossed over her right eye and cheek where he'd hit her the hardest, and a particularly bad stab under the right breast was bleeding badly. Where she wasn't cut, raw ugly bruises were beginning to form where the hardest blows had been dealt, as the swellings continued to throb with raw angry pain.

She could barely see out of her left eye as the surrounding skin around the orbital socket and cheek had swollen: blood continued to stream down her face, blurring the vision of her other eye. As the stranger stood over her, panting as hard as she was, and his erection still hard: she looked up at him, and with her waning defiance and hard-headed stubbornness, she smirked: "...F-f-fucking, l-l-lightweight...", and spat a mouthful of blood on to his shoes.

He kicked her so hard, that when she hit the wall the impact actually cracked the tiles: fresh pain shot all the way through her chest as she nearly lost consciousness again and her breathing stammered for a brief second; but the fighter in her wasn't ready to be fitted for angel wings and a halo just yet. Forcing her neck to lift her head, she glowered at him as best she could, and hoarsely growled: ...I, _am not_, g-gonna, l-let you, h-have, _anything outta me_..."

With that: he grabbing her by the hair and dragged her over to the table, where he strapped her hands down via a couple of restraints that were nailed to the surface; he then picked up a power drill, and drilled right through her hands. It was the straw that broke the camel's back, as Max jolted and writhed, screaming in pain as he forced the drill through skin, ligament and bone; it took barely a few seconds to do each hand, but when he removed the bloodied drill, the agony shot up to an unbearable level.

And with the pain, her mind forced her consciousness in on itself, as her whole life flashed before her. Every day, every hardship, every unfair slight, every injustice...every happy moment with Chelsea...

"...Ch-Chelsea..." she whispered, so softly only she could hear it,

'_...I'm done with this fucking excuse for a family! __AND I'M FUCKING DONE WITH YOU! ..._'

The memory of those words hit her heart like hollow tip bullets: the last words she ever said to the one person she ever truly loved and cared for, and she said them with selfish hatred.

"...I'm s-so sorry..." she sobbed quietly as she started to hitch with each gasping sob that came out.

The stranger then unstrapped her, grabbed her by the neck, and with his one free hand, began to unzip his pants. "N-NO!" Max tried to struggle, but her attempt was barely more than that of a half-dead fish floundering about on the deck of a boat.

But as she tried to jerk free from his grip, she noticed a shadowy figure slip in through the open door, come up behind the stranger, and hit him over the back of the head hard. The stranger went down and was out like a light, but as she fell, the stranger quickly moved to catch her, and scooped her up into his arms with hardly any effort.

"Can you hear me?" he asked her, shaking her to try and keep her conscious.

"What-" Max tried to turn her head to look at him, and was confused at what she saw through her half-blurred vision...

The man was old, _really_ old: he must have been a trump or homeless guy, because he was dressed in the oldest, most well-worn scruffy attire she'd ever seen; he was tall with a thin lean build, his face was etched with countless wrinkles while his hair and beard were long and silvery white. But his eyes were the most vivid shade of blue she'd ever seen...most peculiar.

"Who-"

Doesn't matter right now, we need to get you out of here" he stated as he turned to leave:

"W-what, about h-him?" Max tried to point back to the room.

"It's over for him, he just doesn't know it yet..." her rescuer replied as he carried her down a corridor, then down a few steps before exiting through another door, and out into the forest. The cool night air hit her raw skin like ice cold water, but at the same time it soothed the throbbing and pain a little: her rescuer walked some distance into the undergrowth, until he came to a small clearing, where hidden among a thick cluster of ferns was Violet; unconscious, but otherwise seemed to be unharmed.

The strange old guy lay Max down next to her, and took a moment to check her wounds over. "Don't worry, he didn't do anything to her," he gestured to Violet, "I think he intended to use her as bait, to draw one, or all of you up here. In any case, wait here until you hear your sister's voice, and whatever you do, _don't move or make a sound;_ at this point your life is still in danger"

"W-who-...Who are you?" Max weakly asked

The strange man looked at her with a sense of regret, as if he wanted to tell her, but for some reason, couldn't: "...You'll find out..." he simply stated, "One day, you'll _all_ find out: but for now, live your life, and follow your own path..." he smiled as he leaned in closer, "...No matter what happens, you'll be okay: just remember, when life gives you lemons, learn to make lemonade. And don't be afraid, you're never alone, no matter how far away you are...You'll always have a family, and you'll _always_ be loved" he stated as she gently pushed back one of her bangs.

Gazing up at him, Max suddenly noticed his bare forearms were covered in strange tattoos: lines of writing arranged into complex Celtic knot work-type patterns; strange glyphs, that looked suspiciously similar to the cybertronian glyphs she'd seen around the base...

The distant sound of gunfire suddenly echoed through the forest: clearing away some of the leaf-litter, the old man picked up a long wooden staff; a walking stick that had a jewel of some kind set into the curling grain of the wood at the top. "Listen, I have to go, but don't worry, help will be here soon..."

"Wait-" Max tried to grab him

"We will meet again, one day: but for now, I must go..." and with that, he disappeared into the thick undergrowth.

"W-what the hell? ..." Max's brain spun in a dizzy twist as she tried to make sense out of what he just said, but failing to reach any form of logical explanation, she instead looked over at Violet, who was still out cold. As Max tried to comprehend the fact she had been rescued, a rustling in the bushes made her look the other way: having no energy left to soften her breathing or stay as still as possible, all she could do was lie there helplessly, as a new wave of fear threatened to overtake her...

From out of the undergrowth, Barricade stepped out, and immediately caught sight of her and Violet amongst the ferns. As Max began to panic, the con cocked his head to one side, as he reached down to try and pick her up. But as his claws came within inches of her, a stone flew at his head and hit him dead on in the optic: Barricade threw his head back and yelled out in pain as he staggered backwards.

"HEY! OVER HERE YOU OVER-SIZED SHITHEAD!-" Lizzy called out as she threw another stone at him, and took off into the undergrowth like a bat out of hell: Barricade growled angrily as he took off, chasing after the prankster as she disappeared into the forest.

"GOD-DAMN IT LIZZY! GET BACK HERE!" Roxy hollered angrily as she the others came barging through the ferns, and nearly tripped over Max and Violet: "Oh my god! Max?! Violet?!" Rosy panicked when she saw her little sister, but nearly screamed her head off when she saw Max. "_Oh my God!_ Max!-" Darren dropped to his knees beside her, as did Chelsea, who wasted no time in picking her up and holding her close; looking her over and seeing the extent of her trauma, Darren knew he didn't have enough make-shift bandages left to bind all her wounds, let alone the worst of them.

Checking his CTG's Autobot tracking system, the bots were now in the vicinity, but it was _still _going to take time for them to navigate through the forest and up the dirt road; time was now a premium, and it couldn't be wasted. As he looked around, racking his brain for a solution, he noticed a large building through the trees that looked like a converted barn; it was barely two hundred yards away, and despite it being the Tranquility Stalker's obvious hide-out (and guessing from the extent of Max's injuries, his torture chamber), there was the possibility that there might be something in the way of a first aid kit, or at least the materials to make bandages from. Between Chelsea and Jeanie trying to tend to Max's wounds and an unconscious Violet, and Rosy and Roxy panicking over the fact that Lizzy had run off with a big-ass Decepticon on her tail, Darren simply stated, "All of you wait here, I'm gonna go check out the house"

They all paused and gawked at him in shock: "WHAT!?"

"N-No! H-he's in there! H-he'll, k-kill-" Max gasped as she tried to reach out for him.

"Don't worry, after everything that's gone down tonight: it's _me_ he should be scared of..." Darren stated with an air of threatening determination; at that, they all knew he was in no mood to be screwed around with.

"Okay, just be careful" Jeanie warned him

"I will," Darren nodded, "Stay with them, and wait 'till the NEST team comes, I'll try and be back before then" and with that, he took off towards the house.

"Ch-Chelsea..." Max gasped as she grabbed her sister's arm, and tried to pull her closer

"Don't try to talk" Chelsea held her close, "Save your strength, the medics will be here soon; you're gonna be okay!" she sobbed as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Have to-, tell you..." Max gasped, trying to fight through the pain to breath, "...I-, I-I'm s-s-sorry, for what-, I said, b-before-"

"Don't-" Chelsea sobbed, "It doesn't matter you hear me? _It doesn't matter!_"

"N-n-never meant-, *cough!* To say th-those things-...to you..." Max managed to say, before she finally fell unconscious.

"Max? MAX!" Chelsea tried to shake her awake, "Please Max! WAKE UP!"

As Chelsea's sobbing echoed through the trees, Darren took off for the house; as he entered through the front door, the thick heavy smell of fresh blood hit his nose like a punch to the face, sending a fresh wave of cold dread through his being. Undeterred, he entered the building, following the narrow corridor until he came to the empty torture room: the fresh blood on the floor and walls, the bloodied tools sitting on the table, plus the torn T-shirt, hoodie and bra confirmed Max's brief but bloody 'session' had taken place in here. The sight of the three female torsos at the end of the room made his stomach twist into a tight knot, prompting him to carry on: but not before he nervously stepped across to the table, and picked up the cattle prod. If the killer was still in the house, he _wasn't_ about to take any chances.

He then backtracked down the corridor and stepped out into the hall-way: checking his CTG's tracker for his cell-phone signal, the tracker indicated it was somewhere upstairs: heading up the long flight of stairs, he first headed for the bathroom, and sure enough, there was a well stocked medicine cabinet that had several packets of dressings and rolls of bandages. Shoving them into the pockets of his NEST uniform, he then took off for the room his cell-phone was in.

The bedroom was a mess, full of clutter and various pieces of old antique furniture: but right away Darren spotted the black coat the attacker had been wearing earlier; he rummaged through the pockets as quick as he could, but when he finally clutched at his cell, his eye instantly caught a figure moving in the mirror in front of him...

A figure that was about to bring a machete down over his neck from behind.

Without even thinking, Darren flipped the switch of the cattle prod on and simultaneously twisted round to jab the thing right in the attacker's side. The stranger yelled out in pain and convulsed violently as he fell to the floor, and Darren wasted no time in bolting for the stairs: he could hear the stranger getting back up and running after him as reached the landing. But as he bolted through the front door, the door frame exploded in a hail of splinters as the stranger had tried and failed to shoot another slug round at his head.

But although the bullet had failed to meet its target, the violet shattering of the door frame had succeeded in lodging several long shard-like splinters into the side of Darren's face, neck and shoulder: the pain was raw and excruciating, and as Darren retreated around the side of the building, the sound of the gun being reloaded forced him to run all the way to the back of the house. Stopping to catch his breath, he gently lifted a hand to the side of his face, and tentatively felt where each splinter had gone in; and to some measure of relief, could feel that none had lodged in anywhere near his jugular or windpipe, nor his eye or ear: from what he could feel it was more or less a flesh wound.

But he wasn't out of danger, not by far, and neither were the girls: if the attacker found them it would be over; Darren knew he had to try and lead him away, or at least keep him focused on _himself_ until NEST arrived. Using the cattle prod, he banged on the trash cans that were standing near the back door: right away, the sound of footsteps quickly approached from the front of the house, and so Darren quietly crept around the opposite side, hiding behind a large stack of kindling wood that was piled up by the wall. Using the darkness as his only means of camouflage, he cautiously peeped one eye around the wood pile as the killer tentatively peered around the corner of the house; he was about to stalk past the wood pile, when the sound of Barricade cursing and running about nearby made the Killer backtrack the way he came.

'_SHIT!'_ Darren mentally cursed, but the sound of the back door opening and closing confirmed he was back in the house. Cautiously peering in through the kitchen window, Darren watched as the killer went down into the basement: how long he'd stay down there wasn't a gamble he was prepared to take, and so Darren quickly dashed around the back end of the house, and proceeded to try and get the bandages and dressings to the girls. But as he rounded the opposite corner of the house, the sound of the fight between the cons, Firefly, Blackmoon and Shiningstar was now nearer than before, and from the sound of it, more cons had joined the fight...

Not wasting any more time, Darren was about to run back to the undergrowth, when suddenly Lizzy nearly knocked him over as she came running up behind him, nearly making him jump out of his skin with fright.

"I'm sorry I took so long! I-" Darren quickly grabbed her and clasped his hand over her mouth before she gave his position away; quickly cottoning on to the fact he wanted her silent, Lizzy shook her head and pulled his hand away; "...It took me longer to lose him than I thought!" she mouthed silently

"The killer, he's inside!" Darren mouthed back, "Stay on my ass, and _don't run off_ no matter what! ..." he added sternly as he beckoned her to follow. Following him with one hand on his shoulder, Lizzy stayed as close as she could to Darren as they jogged to the front of the house, but just before they rounded the corner, a shadow cast by the porch light made them stop. The shadow moved, and with it, the same footsteps Darren had heard before: slowly creeping backwards, he gestured to Lizzy to cover him while he kept track of the Killer's shadow. For a nerve-racking half minute the two cousins backtracked to the back of the house, but just before they could round the corner yet again, a bright red laser blast cut through the night air and hit the corner of the house in an explosion of brick, concrete and timber.

Spotting Barricade's red optics peering through the blackness of a nearby cluster of trees, Darren quickly ducked as he grabbed Lizzy's hand and ran for the opposite side of the house, but just as they turned to run for the woods, the Killer stepped out and aimed his gun right at the center of Darren's forehead...

In a split second without thought nor fret, Darren charged forward and thrusted the cattle prod right into the killer's abdomen: at the same time the killer fired but missed his target; instead, the shot went right over Darren's head, past Lizzy's ear, and hit Barricade on the side of the face. As the con retreated with a string of angry cybertronian curses: Darren took the opportunity to jab the killer again and again, making him convulse with each shock; but just as Lizzy lunged to grab his gun, the killer reached up and grabbed Darren by the throat, and at the same time he punched Lizzy in the stomach, forcing her onto her knees.

As the killer got back up on his feet, Darren suddenly spotted the Kevlar vest under his thick jacket: he'd been faking the convulsions all along (for what sick twisted purpose Darren didn't know, and didn't _want _to know). "You _fuck!_-" Darren angrily gasped for breath as the killer knocked the cattle prod out of his hand, and just as he was about to draw his hunting knife, Lizzy shot back up and hit him over the head with a piece of wood; the killer dropped Darren, who wasted no time in grabbing his cousin and hightailed it back to the woods, "-Come on!" Darren ordered. The killer tried to stand back up, but tripped over and fell face-down in the leaf-litter: looking down at his feet, he saw his shoe laces had been knotted together (one of Lizzy's more old-fashion pranks); desperately, he tried to crawl to where his gun was lying on the ground, but as he neared the weapon the sound of breaking branches and crashing made him retreat backwards as Barricade came crashing through the trees yet again...

Darren and Lizzy didn't stop for anything as they heard the Decepticon close the distance between them, they were so close to where the others were hiding, and yet Barricade sounded even closer. And the con reached the grab them, suddenly, the whole night lit up with the flashing of muzzle-fire and the booming of cybertronian cannons. Barricade went head over heels as a large plasma round struck him in the side and sent him flying into the trees: Darren and Lizzy screeched to a halt as Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Trailbreaker and Ultra Magnus stepped out and stopped right in front of them.

"Autobots! Secure the perimeter!" Prime ordered, and without skipping a beat the other Autobots filed out from the forest and moved to where Barricade had landed some several of hundred yards away. Shining his headlights down on the humans, Prime and Trailbreaker kneeled down in front of them, right as Major Lennox and Epps came running up; the sight of Darren's bloodied face and injuries took them aback somewhat.

"Jesus..." Will breathed in astonishment, "...Are you okay?"

Darren shot him a sharp sarcastic glare: as if to say, 'do you _really_ need to ask?!'. "Just fine..." he deadpanned, "What took you guys so long?"

"Sorry, but this place was kinda hard to find on the map..." Epps apologized, "Crystalwing filled us in on everything, where're the others?"

"Through there," Darren pointed to the nearby thicket, "Get the medics, Max is in real bad shape, and Jeanie, Chelsea and Roxy are gonna need treatment too" he replied as he tried to catch his breath; looking back up at the house, he watched as a unit of NEST soldiers apprehended the killer, and placed a set of hand-cuffs on him.

"Are _you_ okay? ..." Trailbreaker asked worryingly; looking up at his guardian with a frank and honest look, Darren sighed, "...I'll be okay, once I know everyone's safe..."

At that moment Firefly came swaggering out of the trees, covered in dents, dints and several sizable scratches, "So? What'd I miss?" she grinned innocently. Ironhide was about to chew her aft out, when Bluebird, Veebee and Tangostar came running out from the opposite of the clearing, and stopped and gasped when the saw their little sister.

"FLY!-" Tangostar rushed to hug her, as did Bluebird and Veebee, "Where the frag'd you go?! Do you have any idea how worried we were?!"

Firefly's train of thought suddenly stopped as she processed what she just heard, "...You, guys _actually worried_ about me?"

"Of course we were worried about you! What the slag possessed you to run away this time?!" Veebee anxiously demanded

"With Barricade and the cons running around out here, how could we _not_ worry about you?!" Bluebird added in equal worry

"But-, I thought-" Firefly stared at them weirdly: "-You thought we weren't paying enough attention to your skills and abilities as an Autobot?" Bluebird finished for her; Firefly's optics flew wide open in surprise.

"Come on, we know you too damn well" Tangostar smiled, "You're our little sister, we'll _always_ pay more than enough attention to you; it's kinda what bein' an older sister's all about?"

"It's just sometimes, you get way too stubborn to realize it" Veebee threw in, "And then you don't listen at all"

"Look, the important thing is, your okay, and so is Lizzy," Bluebird gestured to the girl.

As Firefly listened to her sisters voice their relief at finding her alive and well: suddenly, everything she'd thought before didn't seem so important any more, and as the good feeling lightened the atmosphere: she decided, maybe running away _was_ being a little too hasty. And at the back of her processor, a cold twinge rose up when she suddenly realized: what might have happened if they hadn't turned back?

As Lizzy watched her favorite green Autobot reunite with her sisters, in the back of her mind she couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if she hadn't convinced Firefly to turn back: what would've happened to Darren and her sisters? What would have happened Violet? Or Max? The thought of it stopped her thoughts in their tracks, as the question of what if haunted her like a bad memory.

Noticing the look of dread in her eyes, Darren placed a hand on her shoulder: "You okay?" he asked concernedly. Looking up at him, and suddenly realizing the scope of everything they'd endured tonight; Lizzy knew she had no right to dismiss anything Darren said, and as she watched the killer get led away by the soldiers, the idea of running away to a new life, suddenly didn't seem so appealing anymore.

"...I just-, wanna go home..." she sighed ruefully in defeat.

BOOOOM!

The explosion rocked the forest as a giant fireball engulfed the trees and threw some of the Autobots up in the air.

"Major, get the younglings out of here! We'll take care of Barricade!" Prime ordered as he and the other bots took off for where the explosion had taken place. As Darren let Will and the other soldiers led him and Lizzy to safety, he watched as the sound of another firefight kicked up again...

* * *

**How unexpected: being the main emphasis of this chapter; and indeed, there were some of those cryptic moments I warned you about ;) **

**That was the last of the gnarly gory chapters, from here on its back to normal (normal as life with giant transforming alien robots can get) with some serious reconsideration's and contemplations to think upon. **

**Let me know what you think, & stay tuned! **


	13. Chpt 12: Strong Chickens

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.

* * *

LEMONS & CHERRIES

Chapter 12: Strong Chickens

Tranquility General Hospital, 9:56am:

They didn't speak

Not for the longest time, had they any words that could sum up the incredibility of all this.

The ward was quiet, save for the sounds of nearby footsteps echoing down the corridor. Inside the room the heart monitor beeped away at a slow steady pace, the IV dripped like a Chinese water-torture, and her oxygen mask misted up with every breath she exhaled; with fresh dressings and bandages wrapped around her wounds, and stitches holding her more traumatized flesh together, Max was in a more stable condition: a far cry from the horrendous situation she'd endured only several hours ago. And sitting nearby at the side of her bed, fast asleep on a pair of cushioned seats, Darren's parents sat with their heads leaned against each others shoulders: after a long night of worrying and praying for their son and nieces, stress had finally given way to exhaustion when the 'they'll be okay' had been sounded, and sleep granted them some much-needed repose.

Out in the corridor, watching Max from behind the window next to the door, John and his niece stood there with their arms folded: for the longest time neither of them had spoken, as their eyes both betrayed their mixed sense of astonishment, relief, and dread at the thought of how very differently this all could have turned out.

The last several hours had been a blurred fervor of panic and worry for the interns and their Autobot guardians.

With everyone so emotionally strung and wound up, it had been hard to keep track of anything that had been going on, let alone the time: the one pressing thing everyone wanted to know was what the hell had happened?

The call came in at 2:30am, when Will Lennox had reported that Darren and his cousins were on their way to Tranquility General Hospital to receive treatment. As the gory details of what happened in the national park were relayed to the base, the interns and their guardians were thrown into a panic, and no one wasted a second in high-tailing it to the hospital in double-quick time. Once there, and they saw for themselves the grizzly results of what Max had endured, and were filled in on how Darren and his cousins tried to rescue her while at the same time sustaining equally life-threatening injuries. No one made any bones of contention, nor were the subject of yesterday's drama's brought up or hinted at; they just stayed as close to Darren as they could: waiting, praying, and hoping that somehow, that he and _all_ his cousins would be okay.

"...A hundred and sixty nine stitches, sixteen lacerations, eleven electrical burns, thirty five cuts, twenty four bruises, one gunshot wound: and _that bustard_ had barely gotten started..." John thought aloud with a hint of anger in his voice

Morri heaved a heavy regretful sigh: "...I still can't believe it was _him_; of all the crazy-arsed random shit to go down, they stray into the Tranquility Stalker's own back garden..."

"They were the lucky ones..." John pointed out

"...Yeah..." Morri quietly replied, as the memory of the last few hours came to mind, "...Is she going to be okay?"

"...I hope so..." John sighed ruefully as he remembered the events of yesterday, and all the drama that had played out, up until last night: "...Has the search party reported anything?" he added

"D called in fifteen minutes ago, he scanned the whole area around the killer's property but Barricade _still _hasn't shown up: he even covered the area's where Firefly ran into the con's and where Bluebird and Tangostar were stalked; nothing's turned up. But even if they do pick up their trail now, the cons are long gone"

"What about energon residue? Didn't they find any trace?" John glanced sideways at her

"That's another thing, D reported that the EMP bomb Barricade used to get away with had been armed with a payload of ionized aluminium; so when it went off it completely neutralized the con's energon signature: ergo, we're not going be able to find them any time soon" Morri replied in a mildly disappointed tone

John didn't reply, as he kept his eyes on Max

"...So? ..." Morri changed the subject, "What are we going to do with them now? We can't send them home, not after what happened yesterday" she gestured to Max.

"Bishop's already drawing up the paperwork to have them included on the NSC's protection order for NEST, as soon as Max is discharged she and the girls will be coming back to base" John replied

"And their parents?"

"Sam called in a favor with his mum and dad: Ron and Judie will be stopping by later to fill them in on a few details; Bishop figured they'd be a little more approachable than a couple of military guys in black suits and sunglasses"

"How considerate..." Morri thought offhand with a slight smirk, before her face turned passive again: "...What about the killer? What's going to happen to him? ..." She asked offhand.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Tranquility Police Precinct:

The two-way mirror and sound-proofed wall were the only two things that separated them from the killer in the interrogation room: technically he shouldn't be able to see anyone on the other side of the reflective glass; and yet, as he sat there in the chair, still as a stone with a poker face any gambler would be proud of. He stared at the mirror intensely, as if it were completely transparent: his face never betrayed anything, nothing that would allude to any form of emotion in the slightest. For anyone who didn't know any better, it would be most unnerving if not creepy, but for the seasoned police detectives and three military special ops personnel, it was somewhat uneasy.

But what made it all the more stark was the fact that there was nothing about the killer that would suggest he was anything but what you saw: he was just a guy, with a face that you probably wouldn't glance at twice at on the street. He might have worked behind the counter of a convenience store, a library, maybe even in a supermarket packing grocery bags or some other mundane and humdrum job nobody was eager for; he was completely ordinary, and there was nothing remarkable about his overall appearance that would suggest anything of a sinister nature about him.

"He hasn't said a single word at all?" Epps asked in slight disbelief

"Nothing: hasn't asked for a lawyer, a phone call; even when we read him his rights he didn't even batter an eye-lid" Detective Fowler replied as he folded his arms, "Hell, he's so quiet a couple of the officers thought he was holding his breath once or twice; the only way you can tell he's breathing at all is by watching his chest go in and out...Kinda uncanny, but not surprising: given what he is..." he thought aloud.

"...All good predators never betray their presence, even a single breath will give you away; and this creep's got it down to a fine art" Colonel Bishop replied as he watched the killer.

"So you guys think you can do a better job of making him talk?" Detective Ramirez asked in a somewhat sarcastic tone

"When we apprehended him and he tried to resist, one of my men aimed a gun at his head and threatened to shoot if he didn't cooperate. He didn't _even blink_, and just looked him straight in the eye: he even pressed his forehead to the end of the barrel, as if to make a statement...He didn't talk then, I don't think he's gonna want to talk now" Major Lennox sighed

"Does that mean you're going to let us proceed with the case? Cuz we've been after this creep for _weeks_: the last thing we need is national security stepping in with a ton of red tape and screwing this up" Ramirez deadpanned with an attitude.

"Hey come on, the attitude ain't called for Ramirez..." her partner replied, "But seriously-" he turned to the Colonel, "Are the boys from Washington gonna want to step in for any reason?"

The colonel looked the detective square in the eye for a moment, before stating: "...Could you give us a moment please?"

"Sure..." Epps nodded, "Coffee? I dunno about you but I could drink the whole pot" he offered Ramirez as he led her out of the room with Will following close behind. As Detective Fowler stepped a little closer, the Colonel eased up his stance, indicating his willingness to be open with him; "...So what's really going on? A bunch of military guys out in the woods who '_just happen'_ to come across the perp's hideout 'purely by accident?' ..." the detective deliberately thought aloud, giving the Colonel a knowing glance: "I may not be in the military anymore, but I _know _the scent of an under-cover op when I smell one" he pointed out in a more serious tone.

"What is it you want, detective?" the Colonel turned and looked him square in the eye.

"Just to know, if the military _is_ gonna be involved in any official capacity, and for whatever reason; cuz if so, I want you guys to be straight with me and the department. _I_ may know how NSC works when they undertake any investigation that's outside military jurisdiction, but the family's of this perp's victims don't, and they're gonna want to see him on death row as soon as is legally possible. Having NSC step in for _any_ reason means the whole system has to side-step while inquiries, data-classification, and all other kinds of political bureaucracy have to be observed. As a result, the possibility of a trial in a civilian court dwindles down to the single digits, not to mention the press would surmise that a conspiracy is in the works, which wouldn't do much for the military's image. That, and with the results of the vice-presidential elections being announced this week: I'd have thought NSC would be trying to keep anything concerning national security strictly on the down-low" the detective stated. The way he spoke told the Colonel he wasn't one to be bull-shitted: deciding to return the courtesy, the Colonel obliged him and replied: "...Well, it's nice to know someone in the civilian sector keeps their finger on the pulse"

"Damn straight" Fowler smirked

"Officially, the unit who apprehended the killer were on a low-risk night-time training exercise: intel told them the cabins were abandoned years ago and were _not_ supposed to be occupied; obviously, _that_ was not the case, and after discovering the killer's torture chamber, they immediately tracked down and apprehended the suspect" Bishop stated

"And unofficially?"

The colonel studied him for a brief moment, looking for any hint of dishonesty: but the seriousness in his eyes told him otherwise, and so asked: "...You still remember how to keep classified information in confidence?"

The detective nodded.

"Unofficially, the CIA had obtained a tip-off on a terrorist sleeper cell that had a base of operations somewhere up in the national park: but the source of the intel was unknown and the details were sketchy at best. Thinking it might be a set up, we were ordered to go up there and check it out; we found the cabins as the intel specified, but evidently not the persons we were expecting"

"How'd they slip up on _that?_" the detective raised a skeptical eyebrow

"That's what I want to know: I filed a report and NSC have assured me they will look into it. As you pointed out, getting mixed up in this case would present a number of problems the Pentagon are not eager to take on at the present time; which is why I've been ordered to inform you that since the probing mission was a bust and the military are keen to keep their distance. NSC has no issue in letting the Police have this one" Bishop lied, but he did so rather convincingly: after all, the Autobots _were_ above classified, and bringing them into the picture was not an option.

"Well, thank you" the detective nodded, "That's a ton of paperwork my chief doesn't have to worry about"

"Pleasure to be of help" the colonel replied, before he changed the subject: "...I take it with all the evidence in his home, a confession might not be necessary?"

"Are you kidding?" the detective gave him a weird look, "Our officers have been pulling one horror after another outta that place, and with all the DNA in his torture chamber, the DA's got a slam-dunk on this one..." the detective paused in thought for a moment, "...You know? Even though we've not had time to fully process the evidence, some of my guys took a peek at his journals...I heard a quote once: all happy families are alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. I know there are some pretty messed up individuals out there, but this guy? He and his entire family give a whole new meaning to the word depraved" he thought aloud with a hint of ruefulness

"...That doesn't even come close to describing what my men saw in that place" Bishop sighed

"Despite the fact his DNA wasn't in the system, our forensics did analyze it: and found that his very genetic profile was as much a horror story as his life. They found several genetic abnormalities; abnormalities that can only come about from incest that had been going on over several generations. So much so that his whole family had 'interbred' to the point of sterility"

"Jesus..." Bishop bitterly sighed, "Is that what killed them? They just died out?"

"The mummified remains in the 'dining room'? Forensics hasn't found any evidence of foul play as far as their concerned, but we'll know more as soon as the autopsies are complete. It wouldn't be the first time someone died of a genetically inherent disease, let alone several of the same bloodline"

"True, but if that's just what the DNA alone indicates, I don't even want to _try _and imagine what went on in those cabins all these years" Bishop thought aloud

"I don't think anyone does: but the boys from the BAU are gonna want to get him on their couch if we're to find out where he buried all the others"

"Others?" Bishop raised an eyebrow

"Down in the taxidermy workshop we found a score list of all the women and girls he and his family had killed over the years. We're still comparing names with the missing persons unit's database, but so far we've got well over two hundred and fifty victims still unaccounted for..."

"...And only _he_ knows where they're buried..." Bishop frowned in bitter disappointment.

A brief silence passed between them before Fowler spoke up again: "...Well, one way or another, we'll get him to talk: in the meantime I gotta take him to booking. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, you've done enough, thank you..." Bishop replied as he turned to leave, "Just promise me you'll get that son of a bitch the death sentence"

"We'll do what we can..." Fowler nodded; Bishop gave a discreet nod of thanks, and left the room without another word. Heaving a heavy sigh, Fowler watched as the killer stared right back at him through the two-way mirror: those dead lifeless eyes boring right into him, as if trying to deliberately unnerve him. The detective however, wasn't put off: and relaxed his stance as his partner came back into the room.

"So? How'd it go?" Ramirez asked

"Well the DA's gonna be pleased, NSC don't want any unnecessary attention so their letting us have this one" Fowler replied

"Just like that?" Ramirez raised a skeptical eyebrow

"...I know...It don't make sense..." Fowler replied in a cryptic tone, frowning as he pondered his conversation with the colonel.

* * *

A little while later, back at the hospital:

The sun on his face was warm and welcoming, but at the same time it teased at the thin veils of skin that were his eyelids: after several minutes of trying to ignore it, he finally relinquished and lazily blinked his eyes open. Drawing in a deep yawn as he stretched his arms out over his head, Darren looked around, and smiled as he saw all his friends who were fast asleep at his side: in the other beds nearby, Roxy, Jeanie and Chelsea were still asleep with Lizzy, Allie, Rosy and Violet were asleep either on the foot of the beds or in one of the chairs next to the bedside tables. As he flopped his head back down on the pillow, last night's events came back to haunt him.

He couldn't remember much of what happened right after Prime and the other bots finally showed up: all he could remember, was running back to his cousins, and to Max. The medics were already resuscitating her by the time he reached them and Chelsea's injury was bleeding badly too. He remembered pressing his hands to her side in an attempt to stop the bleeding...

There was so much blood everywhere. He'd forgotten that he was covered in it.

Looking around the ward, he spotted his bloodied clothes on the counter at the foot of the bed: the blood had turned brown now, but the smell was still in his nostrils.

After the medics took charge, he refused treatment: he had to make sure they were all okay; it was only when he saw his reflection in the side widow of one of the hummers, and saw the wooden shards and splinters lodged in his face that he finally relinquished and let the medics see to him. Gently lifting his hand to the side of his face, he could feel practically the whole right side of his face was covered in bandages and steri-strips: the wounds were still raw, and sensitive to the touch, but they were more comfortable. His adrenaline had been so high the night before, he hadn't realized just how badly injured he really was.

After they reached the hospital, the rest of the night was a blur as the doctor and nurses removed the shards and patched him up: he couldn't remember offhand what they told him, the one thing he could remember was asking for Max; they said she was in surgery, and that it was too early to tell if she'd make it. After four nerve-wracking hours of waiting and preying, the surgeon finally came out of the theatre and said she was damn lucky to have survived.

That was at 4:40am, right after that, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

Suddenly, he heard the door at the end of the ward open and close: thinking it was his parent's, his aunt and uncle, or one of the nurses; Darren looked up but saw no one was around...

It was then he noticed that Chelsea was gone...

A little way down the corridor, Chelsea hobbled towards Max's room: the wound in her side was still sore and it hurt to move, but she took it slow and steady. Remembering what the doctor said about how she was very lucky the blade hadn't hit anything vital: but it had penetrated the muscle, hence the pain in every step she took: but it didn't faze her, she had only one thing on her mind, and she was determined to get it done. Finally she reached Max's room: looking at her sister through the window, she saw her aunt and uncle had gone. Thinking they must've gone to the cafeteria for some breakfast, she slipped in through the door and lifted herself up onto the bed, being careful not to knock the IV or the sensors on the heart monitor.

For a long moment she just sat there, silently looking down at her beaten and bloodied sister, and wondering how the hell it came to this. Her mind was split two ways and she didn't know which would have been more worse: the thought of her sister dying, or the moment before the killer struck, knowing that her last words to her would have been in spite and anger. As a fresh wave of tears stung her already sore and heavy eyes, Chelsea couldn't bring herself to expel it, it was just too painful and too personal to shrug off like a weak punch. It had hit her where it hurt the most: and now, knowing Max would live, she couldn't bring herself to decide whether to forgive her, or what?

"What's wrong?" Max whispered in a weak horse voice

Chelsea's train of thought suddenly stopped, and got shoved to one side as she watched Max's eyes blink up at her: "...Max" she smiled as she leaned in close to put her arm around her, "You scared me you idiot"

"Not as much, as you scared me..." Max breathed: the sound of her breathing told Chelsea it was still painful for her to draw breath: but Max didn't seem fazed as she continued; "...I thought I lost you"

"We both know that's impossible" Chelsea smiled, "I could never leave you"

For a moment a look of hurt and unease came over Max as her eyes welled up with tears: a sharp sob brought a fresh wave of discomfort but she didn't care. As she looked her sister in the eye, she painfully said: "...Listen...I'm so, so sorry"

"For what?" Chelsea blinked in surprise

"... You know what..." Max scoffed, "For everything; all the bull-shit all the-, everything that's happened. I know I don't deserve forgiveness, but at the very least, I want _yours_" she sobbed. Chelsea smiled, and as she gently pushed back one of the bangs over her sister's face behind her ear, she softly replied: "Hey, it's no biggy, I don't care what happens now I'm just happy you're gonna be okay"

"I'm serious" Max weakly grabbed her arm, "When I was in-, _that place_, and he was beating the crap outta me: the one thing that was on my mind, was that I said I was done with you..." Max sobbed as more tears streamed down her face, "...You have, no idea, just how much I would regret that for the rest of my life, however short it would've been. And even now, it hurts more than the fucking stitches..." Max sobbed as she broke down and started to cry.

Chelsea said nothing, and leaned in closer to hug her sister as tight as she could: for a long while they sat there in each other embrace, without a word having to be said. At the back of her mind Chelsea was a little taken aback: she'd never seen Max so broken up and emotional before, she was never one for being open with her emotions and she never liked to admit she was wrong. Seeing her like this? This was big: _very_ big, and it was at that moment Chelsea realized that Max had changed on some level; some part of her hoped for the better, but experience told her to take it slow and not go blindly rushing into false hope.

As Max calmed down a little, she looked up at Chelsea with a more honest look in her eyes; Chelsea simply smiled as she replied: "It's okay, what happened before-, it doesn't matter now. We're both alive: and that's something we should both be thankful for"

"But-, what I said-" Max tried to protest, but Chelsea pressed her finger to her lips and stated: "I said, it's okay: we're cool. Don't let it bug you okay?"

"...Okay..." Max reluctantly replied

"Listen, we're sisters, we get up in each others grills at the worst of times, that's part of what being a sister's all about: we say stuff we don't mean but it doesn't stop us loving each other. Max: I forgive you for what happened last night; that's water under the bridge and its done okay? But if there's one thing _I would_ ask of you as my sister, it's that you _try_ being a little more open: not everyone's out to screw us over okay? And if Darren and our cousins didn't care they wouldn't have risked their lives to come and save you, nor I...I'm _not _holding you to it, I just ask that you keep that in mind, the next time you decide to have an attitude problem, okay?"

"...Alright" Max replied with a little less reluctance, she was about to say something else when she spotted Roxy standing at the window. Beckoning her to come in, Roxy obliged and pulled herself up onto the opposite side of the bed: with her shoulder bandaged and her arm in a sling it was awkward trying to pull her weight up with only one hand, but she managed just fine. For a moment Max stared up at her with a weird look, before asking in a slightly incredulous tone: "...You actually took a knife in the shoulder, for _me?_ ..."

"I know, I'm still in shock myself..." Roxy replied, trying to sound sarcastic, but this time she didn't put a lot of effort into it: and there was something in her voice one might construed as a hint of regret. "...But, I guess I shouldn't complain: compare to you we got off easy"

"Yeah, you did..." Max stated: any other time and she might have put a bit more venom into that statement, but now, there was nothing; neither aggression nor sarcasm. For some reason she herself couldn't quite fathom, she just couldn't be asked. And for a moment both cousins sat there gazing one another, studying each others wounds. Chelsea was half-worried something was about to kick off again; but much to her surprise, Roxy heaved an exhausted sigh as she reluctantly admitted: "Look...I don't like having to admit I'm wrong: or that I've _been_ wrong in the past"

"You and me both" Max replied offhand

"And I don't like going through all the sappy emotional bull-shit when an apology's involved"

"...With the exception of Chelsea, I think I'd have to agree with you"

"But more importantly..." Roxy reluctantly swallowed her pride (which by now was the size of a gob-stopper), "...This whole thing: between you and me? ...I don't know if I can keep doing it..."

Max paused a moment as she considered it, and reluctantly replied, "...I don't think I can do it either...Not after last night"

"Kinda what I was thinking: so here's the deal...Could we, probably, just forget that the last few years happened, and that maybe? We can try starting over?"

Max was a little taken aback, and Roxy didn't miss it: "-Yeah I know, I've been trying to work out how I came to this myself; but hell, Darren talked me into risking my life to save your ass so I must have some shred of 'I give a damn' somewhere in me" she stated in a droll tone, but she wasn't being flippant about it (which was a surprise to Chelsea to say the least), "...Look, I just can't be asked to keep dealing with this thing between us anymore okay? I'm tired, I'm running outta smart-assed insults to throw at you, and if last night's anything to go by, I _don't wanna_ see what'll happen if we get into a situation like _that_ again...Beating the crap outta you and not regretting it's one thing, but if you ended up in a pine box six feet under?...I don't think I could live with that. I may not have any love loss when it comes to breaking hearts, but I'd have to say I draw the line at letting someone die, just to spite them..."

"...If it's any consolation: I didn't _truly_ think you had it in you" Max replied frankly

"Oh come on! No one can be _that _heartless-" Roxy shot back, but stopped when she realized what she just said. The two sisters couldn't help but grin like Cheshire cats: "Aww you _do_ care about us" Chelsea teased

"Listen, if either of you say _one word_ to the others I'll fucking-", "Relax Roxy its okay," Chelsea tried to calm her down, "I won't go blowing your rep...Though, I dunno about Max" she looked down at her sister.

Max contemplated it carefully for a moment: this was Roxy; for her to ask for a clean slate by way of an apology was somewhat out of character for her (but in a way it wasn't surprising, she wasn't the apologetic type by a long-shot). But the honesty in her voice and subdued attitude told Max she wasn't pulling one of her flippant stunts, if she _had_ learnt anything from last night, she wouldn't start now (or ever again for that matter)

"...You _do_ realize you can be a real bitch at times" Max stated with a sharp look

"Same goes for you so its karma: as well as everything else that goes with it" Roxy pointed out, "...But the difference is, you're too damn smart to want to be stuck venting the rest of your life: if you wanna be mad for all the shit you've been dealt in life, fine with me, just _don't _go using my sisters as your emotional punching bags. Or_ I will really_ make your life a living hell, okay?"

"Okay; but the same goes for you: one more snide bit of bull-shit aimed at Chelsea, and I'll do the same to you"

Tit-for-tat: like that's new for either of us..." Roxy couldn't help but smile, "But okay..." she nodded, and with an awkward handshake, they sealed the deal. "This, doesn't mean we have to be nice to each other, does it?" Max asked cautiously.

"Fuck no!" Roxy scoffed with a chuckle, "Being frenemies is way more workable"

"Nice to know some things don't change" Jeanie smiled as she entered the room and stood by the side of the bed.

"How long have you been standing there?!" Roxy exclaimed

"Long enough, and don't worry I won't say anything to the others" she reassured them, "So does this mean I can finally hang up my referee stripes?"

"Eh? Give it a week" Roxy shrugged, "I wouldn't hold my breath" she lied

"Somehow, I know you don't mean that" Jeanie smiled

"Don't I?" Roxy cut her a sharp look, "I may be willing to turn over a new leaf but a girl _has_ to keep her principles: and I _don't_ intend on letting anyone turn me into a bleeding heart" she stated coldly

"Same here" Max concurred, "Though, being polite about its gonna be weird"

"Hey, those are the breaks" Jeanie shrugged, "But I'm proud you're both able to be grown up about it, (at long last)" she smiled

"Amen..." A deep male voice concurred. Jumping in alarm, Jeanie peeled back the curtain of the bed next to Max's and was surprised to see John lying there reading the morning paper. Folding it up and placing it on the table, he smiled at the girls, who stared back at him in a mix of surprise and alarm.

"Wha-, what the hell are you doing here?!" Roxy exclaimed. "And how the hell did you get in?" Max added

"Forgive me-" John replied as he sat upright and hopped off the bed, "I snuck in an hour ago. Some of the lads were adamant you'd try to pull another runner; considering how desperate you'd been at the base, even_ I_ wouldn't put it past you to try: even in your current condition"

"Any other time and place, that's for damn sure" Max stated, "...But not today" she added offhand

"...Yeah, I figured as much. Listening to you just now," John replied as he approached the bed: "And I'm glad you've thought better of it"

"Guess it was time for a reality check I suppose?" Max shrugged

John nodded as he replied, "...You know? When I were a lad, I had a neighbor: Mr Jenkins, he used to keep chickens, (I mean proper chickens not those battery-reared ones)...I can still remember: whenever there were a weak one in the flock, the others used to peck it to death". The girls looked at him in silence as he added: "...What you went through last night, was something no one should _ever_ have to endure: and I hope you all realize just how lucky you are to have survived...You know? Most people would look at kids like you, looking at your history, and wonder why anyone like you should be given a second chance? But I like to think: the spirits of all those women who died up there in the forest, would give you a chance if it means you can live your lives; something they themselves never got to see through because an evil monster took it from them...Being a soldier; what I am and what I do: I have to believe everything, (even the bad stuff) happens for a reason or else nothing in my life makes sense... What happened last night: it'll be a monkey on your back at first, and it won't be easy trying to reconcile it; if you focus on the 'what if's' and how it could've gone the other way, it'll screw around with you to the point you can't see anything past the horror of it"

Then, how do you get over it?" Max asked curiously

John paused a moment, before sighing: "...You don't, you just pray you _don't_ get used to it: no sane human being ever get's over something like _that_... In time it becomes a white elephant at the back of your mind: you can't get rid of it, and it'll pop up when you least expect it. But if you live life and live it for all the good things and people that come your way, eventually you don't notice it as much... Just give it time. Okay?"

"Okay..." Max nodded, "So? What's gonna happen now? Am I-, I mean, are we gonna have to go back to the base?"

"We'll talk about that later, for now, just rest and get your strength back" John smiled as he headed for the door. As he opened it, Darren's parents came back into the room with Will, Lorie and their daughters (plus one nephew) in tow. As the whole family went about the motions of relief, joy and happiness at seeing their niece/cousin awake and well, John silently slipped out, and left them to their own devices; and as he walked down the corridor, the smile on his face broadened.

Several seconds later, Major Lennox came strolling up to the room: but before he entered, he stood at the window and watched the whole family for a while. He was a little surprised to see Max and Roxy actually (sort of) getting along, and Max being a little more...tolerating, of her cousins. As yesterday's events came back to mind, and the fiasco of discovering she'd been the one who'd robbed his home reminded him of his disdain for her: a sense of conflict began to dog him like a persistent inch on the nose; on the one hand he sympathized for her for what she'd endured the night before, but on the other his sense of duty wouldn't let her get off Scot free for her crime (no matter which way you cut it, burglary _was_ burglary). But seeing her with her family like this, it was clear that last night's events had changed her on a number of levels; traumatic events shape people in very different ways, and if last night made her see the errors in herself: then perhaps it might be the one good thing to have come of this. As he contemplated the philosophical conundrum, an idea suddenly came to mind: one that perhaps, might do some good, for both Max, and everyone else...

Meanwhile, outside in the hospital parking lot: Trailbreaker, who had been keeping a vigil over his charge and his cousins since the wee hours of the morning, sank down on his tires in a (figurative) sigh of relief, as his long-range scanners confirmed Max was going to be okay. Next to him, Veebee, Bluebird and Tangostar also felt the tension and weight of their worries lift of their suspensions as Trailbreaker sent them a data-burst of what was going on in Max's room.

* * *

NEST base, 8;47pm:

"Hey sir?-" Morri called out as she briskly strolled into the office, "The NSC's approval papers came through: the girls are good to come back so Galloway said he just needs you to sign-" But Morri suddenly stopped when she noticed the bitter and frustrated looks on the colonel and major's faces, as well as a couple of the other soldiers who were standing there.

"...What's wrong?" she asked concerning: one of the soldiers glanced up at her sourly, before hitting the volume button on the TV remote; which then drew her attention to the breaking news bulletin on the screen.

: -And today's top story. Peter Woodrow: the man identified as the Tranquility Stalker, was found dead in his cell an hour ago, after apparently hanging himself with his bed-sheets. Police are still looking into how the serial killer managed to pull it off without alerting the guards, but at this time there haven't been any-:

"You're kidding!" Morri exclaimed in disbelief

"They never saw it coming, figured he wasn't the type" Will sighed bitterly as he turned the TV off

"But hey look on the bright side: that's one psycho the world don't have to worry about no more" one of the soldiers shrugged

"On the contrary," colonel Bishop stated bitterly, "It's his way of finally getting the last word"

"What you sayin'? The dude offed himself just to avoid execution? How the hell did he figure _that_ would work?"

"No: it's meant to serve as a statement, and a slap in the face," Bishop explained, "Here was a man, _a very evil and depraved man, _who for the better part of his life was good at concealing his true colours: ergo, he was good at controlling everything, even his victims. So much so that in time he came to lust, even covet the power it gave him... Even in incarceration, his ego wouldn't permit him to give that power up: knowing that others had control over him, was unacceptable. And besides, he _knew_ they wouldn't hand him the death sentence"

"Say what?!-"

"Think about it: with him dead the location of all his other victims remains an unsolved case; and considering the enormity of his crimes and the publicity that came with it, the authorities would've wanted to close it for good; no matter how many years in prison it took, they would've been willing to wait for him to talk eventually...He _knew_ that, and so as a final act of cruelty and dominance, he took the location of _their _graves, to _his_ grave"

"Shit..." one of the soldiers sighed bitterly

"Many people out there will see this as justice: but it's not. Not for the families of all those young women, who now will never know where their daughters and sisters are buried, and will never have a headstone to visit and place their flowers on...His suicide, is a big _'fuck you'_ to all of Tranquility..." Bishop sighed

"So? That's it? Surely he must've left clues of _some kind_ in his crib? His whole fucked up family lived there for generations!" one of the other soldiers pointed out

"The police are still going through all the stuff in those cabins, and from the sound of the reports coming in it looks like they're gonna be busy up there for a long time to come. We can always hope they find a map or a list of some kind..." Will offered, "...But considering what he was and the length he to, to hide them? Something in my gut tells me we're never gonna know..." he sighed.

A sombre moment of silence passed between everyone in the office, before Bishop spoke up, "Uh, the papers? Please?"

"Oh, right" Morri handed said papers to the colonel, "Anything else sir?" she asked

"No, you're dismissed" he replied: as everyone left the room, Morri caught up with the major. "So? I understand you met up with Max this morning" she asked

"Yeah: after I got back from the precinct" Will replied

"I would've stuck around but there was stuff I had to see to back here. You were gone a few hours, might I be nosy and ask what happened?"

Will paused a moment as he thought about his answer: "I, wanted to propose an offer. A compromise, of sorts"

"A compromise?" Morri asked curiously, "To what?"

"To going back to Juvi"

Morri paused in confusion, but getting a sense there was more to the major's logic than what he simply said, she asked: "I don't quite follow"

"Well, now that the Ainslie's NSC clearance has been passed, getting them mixed up in the legal system's gonna present a whole bunch of problems the Pentagon isn't gonna want to get tied up in; ergo, they have to remain on the base until, we either apprehend Barricade and the other cons, or we take them down. And since Trailbreaker's report on last night's events only throw up more questions than answers we don't know which way this whole thing's gonna swing. So rather than let them go and risk something happening, it's best to keep them close for now. But on the other hand, Max _did _commit burglary, and that can't be overlooked no matter how classified your status is...So I proposed to her, that while she's on the base, she 'serve her time' here: on parole"

"Okay. And who's gonna be her parole officer?" Morri asked

"Bluebird: under Trailbreaker's direction of course"

"I have to confess I'm a little surprised. Considering how riled you were yesterday...What changed?"

Will dropped his gaze for a moment as he thought about it, before finally replying: "...Yesterday, when all that shit went down between Darren and Max, and I found out she'd been the one who burgled my home. There was a moment, when: I looked in her eyes, and I could see she didn't give a shit about what she'd done; the whole notion of consideration for other people's feelings? Just wasn't there...But this morning, when I saw her lying there, bandaged with the bruises, cuts and stitches all over her: when she looked up at me-...My gut told me something had changed, and she wasn't quite the same person she was yesterday..." he thought aloud. "...I know that, surviving something deeply traumatic can change you on a number of levels; and I think what happened last night, probably forced her to confront herself in some way"

"Maybe? ..." Morri offered offhand, "I know I've not felt the same since we got back from the other universe. Drastic experiences can change you"

"Yeah, and I think it put a few things into perspective for Max, cuz she didn't object my offer. None of them did; and even Roxy didn't go spouting her usual bullshit (which was surprising to say the least)" Will replied

"She was okay with it?" Morri frowned in fascination, "...Huh...guess I'll have to see what this 'new' Max is like" she smiled

"Well, she may have had a bit of sense knocked into her, but part of me is still telling me not to hold my breath" Will replied as he turned to leave, "...Later" he waved good bye.

* * *

Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, I took a bit of time off to enjoy the summer :) Hope you all had a great time!

So, 1 last chapter and an epilogue to go, and this story's just about done! Stay tuned!

Much love 3


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